Men's Volleyball Drops Opener to Penn State Altoona

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team posted a 3-2 victory over Penn State Behrend in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) opener for both teams on Saturday night.

The Altoona Lions (3-1, 1-0 AMCC) had four players with double-digit kills to earn their third consecutive win over the Lions (0-1, 0-1 AMCC). Brandon Arentz led with 14 kills, while Billy Smith dished out 33 assists and Wally Rivera-Berrios registered 12 digs to help the Lions post a 25-23, 22-25, 23-25, 28-26 and 15-13 decision.

Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Dillon Hildebrand (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) each recorded 16 kills for Behrend. Hildebrand, competing in his first collegiate match, tallied a double-double with 11 digs.

Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) and Tyler Fiely (Cambridge Springs, PA/Cambridge Springs) each added 13 kills.

Only three points or less separated each set, including an extra-point fourth set. Altoona relied on five kills from Jacob Byers to win the first set 25-23. The Lions had set point on three occasions and won on a service error for a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Behrend Lions led by as many as seven in the second set and won 25-22 and then took a 2-1 lead after hitting .536 in the third set. Fiely recorded five kills on seven attempts and Munk contributed four kills to give Behrend the edge heading into the fourth.

Every point was crucial in the fourth set with the sea-saw battle beginning at 16-15 in favor of Altoona. Two points was the biggest lead down the stretch in favor of the Behrend Lions at 21-19. Behrend had set point twice but Daniel Downs posted back-to-back kills to break a 26-all tie to even the match.

The decisive set was much like the fourth. Neither team pulled away, bringing it down to the final points. There were eight ties with the final at 13-all. After an Altoona timeout, Byers knocked in a kill and Tommy Kisick forced the block error for the kill to make it 15-13.

Luke Vensel (Erie, PA/McDowell) tallied 10 digs and Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) was able to dish out 23 assists.

The Lions return to action on Wednesday at Hilbert. Match begins at 7 p.m.