Men's Volleyball Wins Ninth Straight; Lions Sweep Thiel, Mt. Aloysius

GREENVILLE, Pa. – After falling in the first four matches of the season, the Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team has reeled off nine straight victories including a pair of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) wins on Sunday. The Lions swept Thiel and Mt. Aloysius, 3-0.

Match One:
Score: Penn State Behrend 3, Thiel 0 (25-21, 25-18, 27-25)
Records: Penn State Behrend (8-4, 2-0 AMCC), Thiel (1-11, 0-1 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* The Behrend Lions defeated Thiel for a second time this season
* Diego Ortiz (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Wesleyan Academy) had 22 assists and nine digs, while Adrian Martinez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Wesleyan Academy) tallied a team-best 20 digs
* Jack Winterhalter (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville East) added a season-best 12 digs 
* JP Goodsel (Corry, PA/Corry) registered 14 of the team's 37 kills
* The Lions forced Thiel to 25 attack errors and held a 10-2 edge in blocks
* Behrend swept the Tomcats after going to five sets on Feb. 1
* The first set had nine ties with the last one coming at 20-all
* The Lions won five of the next six points thanks to a kill from Cody Schnur (Butler, PA/Butler) and Dylan Buzalka (Carlisle, PA/Cumberland Valley)
* Behrend never trailed in the second and took advantage of three attack errors in the final points for a 25-18 win
* Thiel jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the third set in the come-back attempt
* An 18-4 run got the Lions a 19-11 lead
* Thiel returned the favor with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 21-all
* The Tomcats were stopped at set point by two kills from Goodsel and a service ace by Winterhalter to get Behrend at match point
* An attack error and a kill by Schnur got the Lions a 27-25 victory

Match Two:
Score: Penn State Behrend 3, Mt. Aloysius 0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-17)
Records: Penn State Behrend (9-4, 3-0 AMCC), Mt. Aloysius (3-5, 0-1 AMCC)

Key Moments:

* Behrend picked up its third straight conference victory over first-year program Mt. Aloysius
* The Lions had their second-lowest season total in attack errors wtih just five
* Matt Sanford (Erie, PA/McDowell) led with nine kills on 14 attempts with no errors
* Alex Jackson (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) dished out 18 assists 
* Winterhalter added six digs, six kills and two aces
* Ortiz had a team-best six service aces while handing out 12 assists to go with four digs
* Behrend only allowed 20 points combined in the first two sets, cruising to the win

Up Next: 

* The Behrend Lions return to action tomorrow on Saturday at St. Vincent for a tri-match with the Bobcats and Geneva. Matches start at 1 p.m.