Lions Pull Out 3-2 Win in Home Opener
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona men's volleyball played its first home match and first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference match of the season on Friday night in the Adler Arena, as the Lions defeated Hiram College 3-2.
The match was back-and-forth from set-to-set, with Penn State Altoona (1-2, 1-0 AMCC) hanging on to win in five sets. The Lions won the opening set 25-22 before Hiram (2-1, 0-1 AMCC) answered with a commanding 25-15 victory in the second. Penn State Altoona bounced back to win the third set 25-20, but Hiram again responded to tie the match score with a 25-22 win in the fourth. However, the Lions were able to grind out a 15-13 victory in the decisive fifth set to take the match.
Ben Beaver (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) posted team-highs with 12 kills and four solo blocks, and he also tied for the team lead with eight digs and two service aces. Additionally, he totaled 14 assists, and his .524 attack percentage ranks as the eighth-best by an individual in a single match in Penn State Altoona men's volleyball history.
Tyler Sheaffer (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) put up a team-high 28 assists to go along with 10 kills, eight digs, three solo blocks, and two aces. Nikolas Ferraro (Toms River, NJ/Donovan Catholic) finished with 10 kills and one solo block.
Frank Perehinec (Altoona, PA/Altoona) chipped in eight kills and six digs, and Nathaniel Reinert (State College, PA/State College) totaled seven kills, three digs, and two aces.
Mirko Pandini (Milan, Italy/Greater Latrobe) accumulated three solo blocks, and Daniel Jordan (Pittsburgh, PA/Thomas Jefferson) and Matthew Vandeveire (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) finished with one solo block apiece.
In the first set, with the score tied 6-6, Penn State Altoona grabbed the lead on a Hiram attack error and never trailed the rest of the way. Leading 22-21 later in the set, Penn State Altoona came out of a timeout and got a kill from Perehinec to earn a two-point lead. One point later, Beaver's kill and Jordan's block wrapped up the set for the Lions.
After dropping the second set by 10 points, Penn State Altoona bounced back in the third set, during which the Lions hit .435 as a team. Down 17-16 midway through, Penn State Altoona got back-to-back points on Sheaffer's kill and Pandini's block, prompting a Hiram timeout. After Terriers tied the score 20-20, Penn State Altoona retook the lead with a Ferraro block and Reinert kill. The Lions scored the set's final three points on a Hiram attack error, a Ferraro kill, and a block by Sheaffer.
Hiram battled back to win the fourth set, staying alive and forcing a fifth set. In the fifth, Penn State Altoona scored the first three points on kills by Ferraro and Beaver, along with a setting error on Hiram. The Terriers settled in and kept things close, staying within one point of the Lions in the latter stages of the set. Leading 13-12, Beaver's kill put his team one point away from a win. After a service error kept Hiram afloat, Perehinec finished the match off with a kill to put the Terriers away.
Men's volleyball returns to action tomorrow, Saturday, January 25, when the Lions will travel to Virginia to play a pair of matches at Marymount University. At 3:00 p.m., Penn State Altoona will face Lancaster Bible College, and the Lions will subsequently play Marymount at 5:00 p.m.
