by Casey Burinskas

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team returned to action on Wednesday night for its first match since February 28, going on the road to face off against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Geneva College in the Metheny Fieldhouse.

Geneva (14-10, 3-0 AMCC) pulled out a 3-2 win over Penn State Altoona (8-9, 1-2 AMCC) in a back-and-forth match. The Lions won the opening set 25-22 before Geneva answered with 27-25 and 25-19 victories in the next two sets. Penn State Altoona took the fourth set 25-18 to send the match into a fifth set, but the Golden Tornadoes prevailed 15-13 in the fifth to grab the match win.

Penn State Altoona's Avery Farabaugh (Ebensburg, PA/Cambria Heights) led all players in the match in points, kills, service aces, and digs. Farabaugh totaled 22.5 points on 17 kills, four aces, and three block assists while also recording 24 digs, which represents the fifth-most digs in a match in team history.

Willem Del Priore (Seven Valleys, PA/Dallastown) accumulated 15 points on 13 kills, two block assists, and one solo block while adding eight digs. Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) had 12.5 points on 11 kills and three block assists, and Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) scored 11.5 points on seven kills, two aces, and a team-best four total blocks, finishing with one solo block and three block assists.

Mason Grover (Penfield, NY/Penfield) tallied a match-leading 46 assists to go along with 14 digs.

In the first set, a kill from Ebersole that came from Grover gave the Lions their first point on the board. Another kill from Del Priore, assisted by Grover, tied the game for the first time in the set, 2-2. With Altoona hanging even at a score of 6-6, two service aces from Farabaugh helped the Lions to pull ahead from Geneva, 9-6. A kill and a block from Del Priore gave the Lions a strong 12-8 lead midway through the set. A block from Ebersole and Del Priore gave Altoona a 17-12 lead, and after the Golden Tornadoes closed the gap to one, kills from Ebersole and Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) stopped Geneva from gaining any more ground against the Lions, making it 19-16 to place Altoona in sight of a win for the first set. With a kill from Ebersole, the Lions took a 25-22 victory over Geneva in the first.

Coming off their first-set performance, Altoona started out strong in the second by landing the first three points on the board, as a kill by Ebersole and two service aces from Kish handed the Lions a quick lead. A kill from Del Priore and three Geneva errors – one of which resulted in a block by Farabaugh and Ebersole – gave the Lions a 7-5 lead, and more kills from Del Priore, Kish, and Farabaugh helped Altoona to a 14-11 advantage. After Geneva came back to tie the score at 18-18, another kill from Ebersole helped the Lions reclaim a close lead, 19-18. A kill by Pratt and a bad set from Geneva boosted Altoona's advantage to 21-18, but the Golden Tornadoes again fought back to tie the score and eventually claimed a 24-23 lead. Ebersole landed another kill to make it 24-24, and a Geneva attack error in the next point gave Altoona a one-point advantage. But the home team scored the next three points in a row and took the second set by a score of 27-25.

In the third set, the Lions were quick to strike back with a kill from Farabaugh to start. With an attack error and two service errors from the Golden Tornadoes, the score was tied, 4-4, until Geneva pulled away to hold the lead, 9-6. Altoona responded with kills from Kish and Ebersole to help redeem some points, and the Lions also found points from Del Priore's kill and two Geneva attack errors that kept the home team's advantage at two, 13-11. Following two kills by Pratt and one apiece from Kish, Grover, and Del Priore, Altoona stayed within two points, 18-16. The Lions' final kill of the set came from Farabaugh, cutting the Geneva lead to 20-17, but Altoona ultimately fell to the Golden Tornadoes in the third set, 25-19.

Coming back into the fourth set, Altoona was first to put points on the board and got three early kills by Ebersole. With the set tied at 4-4, a kill from Pratt put the Lions back into the lead. One point later, Altoona went on a run that consisted of two kills and an ace from Farabaugh and one kill apiece from Del Priore and Kish, bringing the Lions ahead by five, 10-5. Geneva worked its way back and jumped ahead by one, 13-12, before kills from Zach Gahagan (Martinsburg, PA/Central) and Farabaugh put Altoona back on top, 14-13. Still up by one, 18-17, later in the set, the Lions went on a 7-1 run to end the fourth. That run included six straight Lion points, consisting of two Del Priore kills, one Kish kill, a Landen Fisher (Altoona, PA/Altoona) service ace, a solo block from Kish, and a duo block by Grover and Kish. With one more kill by Farabaugh, assisted by Grover, Altoona topped the Tornadoes 25-18 to leave the match score at 2-2 and force a fifth set.

Beginning the last set, the Lions once again got on the board first, thanks to a Geneva attack error. Kills from Farabaugh and Ebersole gave Altoona a 3-1 lead, but the Tornadoes battled back to establish a 10-7 advantage later. A kill from Kish tied the score at 10-10, before Geneva pulled away slightly by scoring the next two points. However, the Lions answered with three straight points to go ahead 13-12, as Farabaugh and Del Priore pulled out kills to knot the score, and an attack error by the home team gave Altoona a one-point lead. But Geneva scored three consecutive kills after that, and the Lions lost the match 3-2 after a fifth-set score of 15-13.

Penn State Altoona returns to action this weekend with a two-match road trip to New York state. On Friday, March 15, the Lions will take on non-conference opponent Houghton College at 7 p.m. The next day, Saturday, March 16, Penn State Altoona will return to AMCC play when it takes on Hilbert College at 12 p.m.