Eastern Mennonite Nips Lions Again, 3-2

ERIE, Pa. – Scott Brigham knocked down a game-high 27 kills and added 12 digs to lead Eastern Mennonite past Penn State Behrend 3-2 in non-conference men's volleyball action on Saturday afternoon.

The Royals (11-6) posted their second five-set win over the Lions (11-11) this season, this time winning 17-25, 25-16, 25-23, 16-25 and 15-12. Zach Guiciardi tallied 51 assists and Dan Lutz made seven blocks in the win.

Behrend had three players with double-digit kills, led by Eric Theiss with 12 (.391 hitting percentage). Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) and Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) each posted 11 kills. Mitch Farabaugh (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) dished out 33 assists and Derek Polishen (Plum, PA/Plum) had a game-high 17 digs.

The Lions hit .571 in the first set as a team, committing just one error and getting five kills from Sheehan to win 25-17 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Eastern Mennonite jumped out to a 23-13 advantage in the second set and held on for the win and then narrowly won the third. The Royals got a pair of kills from Brigham and an ace from Dan Lutz to secure a 25-23 victory for a 2-1 edge.

Behrend returned to the first-set mentality to get a nine-point win in the fourth game. Sheehan had three aces, Theiss posted four kills and Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) blasted the final kill to knot the match at 2-all.

The Royals never trailed in the fifth set and relied on Brigham's six kills to get them the win. Down 14-9, the Lions got three straight points and held Eastern Mennonite on match point, thanks to kills from Sheehan and Oertly. The Royals took advantage of an attack error to pull away with a 15-12 victory.

Joe Price (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) came up with some big plays to finish with 14 digs, while Munk and Oertly tallied four blocks apiece.

Behrend returns to action on Wednesday at Medaille. Match begins at 7 p.m.