Men's Volleyball Drops a Pair of Matches

ERIE, Pa.  – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Sunday afternoon, falling to No. 13 Mt. St. Joseph 3-0 and Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) foe Medaille, 3-1.

Against Mt. St. Joseph, the Lions (3-10) had two close sets to start at 25-21, 25-21 and then lost 25-14 in the third. In the nightcap, Medaille took the first set 25-20 before Behrend evened the match with a 25-18 second-set victory. The Mavericks managed to win the next two, 25-20 and 25-23.

Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) led the Lions with 21 kills and 15 digs over two matches. He posted 14 kills, seven digs and three blocks against Medaille. Eric Theiss (Plum, PA/Plum) added 16 kills, including a team-best eight vs. the Lions.

In the AMCC matchup with the Mavericks, the Lions fought back from being down a set to only commit one error in the second set to tie it up 1-all. Behrend never trailed and grabbed a 16-12 lead behind two kills from Theiss and one from Oertly to force a Medaille timeout. The lead grew to six points on four occasions and the Lions had their largest lead at the end off an attack error by the Mavericks for a 25-18 decision.

Nate Schneider and Pete McKelvey combined for nine kills in the third set, helping Medaille go ahead in the match 2-1.

In the fourth, Behrend got out to a fast lead at 8-1 but a 9-2 run by the Mavericks knotted the set for the first of nine times until the finish. The decisive set came down to a two-point difference and with Medaille facing match point twice. At 22-all, a pair of attack errors put the Mavericks ahead 24-22. Herrmann came back with a kill at 24-23 and Schneider was able to secure the win with his fifth kill of the set at 25-23.

In the opener, the Lions gave Mt. St. Joseph a run in the first two sets. Facing its third ranked opponent this season, Behrend got within two points at 21-19 in the first set. A pair of kills pushed the lead to 23-19 and Darrell Swanson's final kill was enough for a 25-21 victory.

Mt. St. Joseph used the same score to defeat the Lions in the second set.  Behrend had nine kills in their first 11 points for an early 11-6 lead. Mt. St. Joseph came back to tie it at 14-all and took its first lead with three straight points after a Lions timeout. Behrend got within one at 18-17, but Mt. St. Joseph knocked in five kills, including two from Alex Vohland for a 2-0 lead in the match.

Mt. St. Joseph tallied 16 kills and hit .434 in the third set for a 25-14 victory.

Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) and Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) added 14 and 13 kills on the day, respectively. Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) tallied 58 assists, including 34 against Mt. St. Joseph.  

The Lions return to action Saturday at Wells. Match begins at 4 p.m.