ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's volleyball team defeated D'Youville 3-0 in the first match of the 2014 Behrend Invitational on Friday night at the Junker Center.

The Lions (9-1) limited the Spartans (5-4) offense from start to finish, winning 25-11, 25-19 and 25-16. Meredith Snyder (Parker, PA/Allegheny Clarion Valley) had a .412 attack percentage behind a team-high nine kills. Alyssa Samarco (Plum, PA/Plum) added a game-best 12 digs along with five kills and three aces.

Natalie Rieman tallied 12 assists for D'Youville.

Behrend turned an 8-2 lead and doubled it to 16-4 before the Spartans got their first kill by Megan Schneider. Samarco posted a kill and two consecutive aces to push the lead to 22-8. Snyder got the final point at 25-11 for a 1-0 in favor of the Lions.

D'Youville kept the second set closer, tying it on five times including 18-all on a kill from Schneider. Snyder was able to get three kills and Courtney Hopson (Erie, PA/McDowell) finished out the set with two straight aces for a 25-19 win.

The Spartans put up a fight in the third set, getting within one point at 16-15 after being down by eight points thanks to three straight aces by Allania Banta (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf). Snyder got Behrend to 19-15 with a pair of kills. The Lions relied on their serves to close out the match. Ashley Solo (Irwin, PA/Penn-Trafford) sandwiched an aces around three attack errors by the Spartans.

Similar to the second set, Hopson got the last point on an ace for a 25-16 victory. Hopson ended with 11 digs, while Hannah Saunders (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) tallied 27 assists.

Behrend returned to action tomorrow for day two of the tournament against Westminster at 11 a.m.