Lions Finish Season With a Pair of Wins

AURORA, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team finished out the season with a pair of 3-0 wins over New Jersey City and Wells in non-conference action on Saturday.

The Lions (13-14), just shy of hitting .500 for the season, posted a 25-14, 25-14, 25-18 over NJCU and then defeated Wells 25-14, 25-22 and 25-18. In the first match, Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) led with 10 kills and four blocks. Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) added eight kills and seven blocks, while Mitch Farabaugh (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) handed out 25 assists.

Behrend took a 1-0 lead in the match thanks to a 15-6 run to close out the first set to win 25-14. The Lions recorded 11 kills in the set, including four from Munk and three from Sheehan.

Behrend used the same strategy in the second set, pulling away from in the middle of the set with a 16-7 run and forcing nine attack errors for the 25-14 win. In the third and final set, Zach Miller (Plum, PA/Plum) served up five straight points to get the Lions a 17-10 lead. Behrend earned its final four points on kills from four different players to sweep NJCU, 3-0.

Sheehan led the attack in the second match, recording 10 kills and eight digs. Derek Polishen (Plum, PA/Plum) had double-digit kills with 10. Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) closed out the season with seven kills (.500) and five blocks.

The Lions hit .333 as a team for the match and had their best set in the first with 12 kills on 25 attempts with just two errors for a .400 hitting percentage. Behrend never let Wells in the first set, jumping to a 14-4 lead thanks to the serves by Miller and Eric Theiss (Plum, PA/Plum). For the third time in the day, Behrend only allowed 14 points to take a 1-0 lead.

In the second set, the Lions knocked down 13 kills in their 25 points. Wells got within one point down the stretch and forced a Behrend timeout at 23-22, but a service error and attack error helped the Lions win 25-22 for a 2-0 advantage.

Munk and Sheehan combined for nine kills in the third set. Munk posted five kills and Sheehan got four kills to give the Lions the victory and the second sweep of the day.  Sheehan got Behrend to a 17-9 lead and Munk recorded the final two kills for a 25-18 win.