Men's Volleyball Falls Twice to Nationally-Ranked UVC Teams

NEW PALTZ, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team dropped a pair of United Volleyball Conference (UVC) matches on Sunday to No. 2 SUNY New Paltz and No. 13 New York University.

The Lions (4-12, 1-4 UVC) opened the day with the second-best team in Division III and fell in three close sets (25-19, 25-17 and 25-19), before taking a set from NYU but falling in four sets (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19).

In the nightcap, Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) led with 15 kills, while Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) posted 11 kills (.476) with five blocks. Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) combined for 78 assists over two matches.

New Paltz registered a .446 attack percentage thanks to 49 kills on 83 attempts, while holding Behrend to just 21 kills in the three-set match. Jake Roessler finished with 16 kills (.625) to help New Paltz remain undefeated in UVC play.

The Hawks won six of the final eight points in the first set, closing out with back-to-back aces from Ryan Cole to pull away from a 19-17 lead and win 25-19 in the opening stanza.  In the second set, the Lions were within one point at 13-12. New Paltz held Behrend to just five points from that point and closed out the set with a pair of service aces from Cole.

Midway through the third set, the Lions were only down 12-10. A small 7-3 run by New Paltz forced a Behrend timeout at 19-13, but the Hawks went on to win 25-19.

Against the Bobcats, Behrend forced 10 errors in the second set to knot the match at 1-all. The Lions never trailed in the second and got a set-high four kills from Oertly and then a big block from Munk and Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) for the final point for a 25-22 victory.

The momentum stayed with the Lions and helped them take a 9-4 lead to start the third. NYU went on a 9-3 run to take the lead back at 16-15. A Bobcat error and Munk kill put Behrend on top 17-16 for its final lead of the set. NYU registered six kills, including four from Andrew Zhu for a 2-1 lead at the match with a 25-21 win.

The same story from the third applied to the fourth. The Lions grabbed the early lead and the Bobcats slowly made their way back in the middle of the set to take the lead for good. NYU forced Behrend to nine attack errors with the last one coming on match point for a 25-19 decision.

Behrend returns to action Tuesday, March 15 at D'Youville. Match begins at 7 p.m.