Lions Defeat Hiram; Fall to Geneva in Five in AMCC Tri-Match

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team split another Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) tri-match on Saturday afternoon hosted by Geneva College.

Match One: Geneva 3, Penn State Behrend 2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-17)
Records: Geneva (14-4, 6-0 AMCC), Penn State Behrend (8-6, 4-2 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* Geneva survived the Lions to stay undefeated in conference play
* The Lions had a 2-1 lead and the Tornadoes won the last two sets
* Behrend won the first and third set, before taking a promising 6-2 lead in the fifth
* The Tornadoes used an 11-5 run to take a two-point lead at 13-11 in the decisive set
* The Lions tied at 14 and 15-all but Peter Barbato tallied a kill and then made a block for the match point
* Behrend had two players with double-doubles; Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Dillon Hildebrand (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion)
* Hildebrand had a team-best 16 kills with 12 digs, while Herrmann registered 12 kills and 15 digs
* Robert McMaster (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) led the defense with 21 digs and Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) dished out 41 assists on 58 kills
* Josh Mathews (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) added 12 assits

Match Two: Penn State Behrend 3, Hiram 1 (25-18, 24-26, 28-26, 25-15)
Records: Penn State Behrend (9-6, 5-2 AMCC), Hiram (3-15, 0-7 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* The Lions grabbed the early lead, before Hiram tied it in the second
* The Terriers had set point in the third on two occasions but they had an attack error and Behrend came up with a big block by JP Goodsel (Corry, PA/Corry) and Cody Geis (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) to give the Lions a 2-1 lead
* Cody Schnur (Butler, PA/Butler) served six straight points in the fourth to give the Lions a 14-7 lead
* Schnur and John Cageao (Beaver, PA/Lincoln Park Performing Arts) got the final two points on kills in the fourth
* It was the fierce blocking that helped Behrend get the AMCC victory, recording a season-high 31 block assists
* Hildebrand and Goodsel each had five block assists to go with a combined 16 kills
* Herrmann led with a .364 hitting percentage and a team-best 10 kills
* McMaster tallied 17 digs and Sprentz collected 29 assists

Up Next:

* The Behrend Lions return to action on Saturday, March 16 against Neumann at home, beginning at 11 a.m.