#3 Thiel College and #5 Penn State Behrend each earned victories in the first round of the AMCC Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament to advance to the semifinal round Friday evening.
The #5 Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team upset #4 Penn State Altoona in the first round of the AMCC Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament, posting a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night. Behrend defeated Altoona by the scores of 22-25, 25-10, 25-19, 25-22.
The Behrend Lions avenged a three-set loss to Altoona on Saturday to advance to the AMCC Semifinals. Behrend won three unanswered sets after falling 25-22 in the first. Kyle Hoffman posted a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Daniel Easly led the match with 16 kills for a .282 attack percentage. Alex Jackson managed 34 assists on 44 total kills. Jackson also added five digs, three aces, three blocks and two kills. Despite holding a 12-10 advantage in the first set, Altoona won the final three points on a kill from Willem Del Priore, a Behrend attack error and a block assist. The Lions battled back to hold Altoona to just six kills and 10 points overall to even the match. Behrend registered a .364 attack percentage in the second set and then followed it with a .333 performance in the third to take two-set lead. In the third set, Jackson's serves helped to keep the Lions out front in the final points with a pair of aces and setting Easly for a kills to make it 24-18. Behrend won the third set off a service error at 25-19. The Behrend Lions never trailed in the fourth set, but tied Altoona six times until an Easly kill gave Behrend a 22-21 lead. A few attack errors and a kill by Lewis Rhodes finished the match in favor of the Behrend Lions.
Avery Farabaugh led Penn State Altoona's attack with 14.5 points on 13 kills, one solo block, and one block assist, and he also tallied 10 digs. Willem Del Priore scored 11 points on 10 kills and a solo block to go along with nine digs. Connor Ebersole totaled 8.5 points on six kills, two solo blocks, and a block assist. Owen Pratt had six points on six kills, and Jared Kish added four points on two kills, a service ace, and a solo block.
Behrend heads to St. Vincent College for the AMCC Semifinals on Friday. The No. 5 Lions will face the No. 1 seed Bearcats at 4:30 p.m.
The #3 Thiel College men's volleyball team defeated the #6 Geneva College Golden Tornadoes, 3-1, in the first round of the AMCC Championship Tournament Tuesday night.
The Tomcats won the first two sets 25-12, 25-19, before the Golden Tornadoes took the third set 25-14. Thiel was able take the fourth set 25-18 to advance to the conference semifinal.
Thiel was led by Kaleb Proudfoot who recorded 10 kills and five blocks. David Gonzalez recorded nine kills and 11 digs, while Will Zimmerman recorded 10 kills and three digs. Eli Olszowka recorded a game-high 37 assists, while Cameron Long recorded a team-high digs.
Geneva was led by Owen Kelley who recorded 16 kills with nine digs. Carter Milroy recorded six kills with 10 digs, while Decker Milroy recorded 32 assists. Joshua Sangrey recorded a game-high 14 digs.
The Tomcats advance to the AMCC Semifinals on Friday, when they will play #2 Hiram College. Both semifinal matches will be played at Saint Vincent, who earned the number-one seed. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.