HIRAM, Ohio – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team was handed an opening round loss in Wednesday evening's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament match, as the fourth-seeded Lions were defeated 3-0 by top seed Hiram College in the Price Gymnasium.

Hiram (9-1) won the first set 25-19, edged out a 25-23 victory in the second set, then prevailed 25-14 in the third set to win the AMCC Tournament semifinal match and earn a berth into the conference's championship match this Saturday.

Penn State Altoona (3-6) got a team-high 12 kills and 13.0 points from Philip Silva (Brazil/Richard Montgomery), who also tied for the team lead with one solo block. Jared Bodisch (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) added five kills and six digs.

Abel Gebre (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) totaled four kills, while Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) and Frank Perehinec (Altoona, PA/Altoona) contributed two kills each. Kish also finished with one solo block and two digs, while Perehinec added four digs.

Connor Baker (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) put up a team-high 18 assists while chipping in three kills and three digs. Matthew Faust (New Oxford, PA/New Oxford) added three assists.

Micah Brinker (Lock Haven, PA/PA Cyber) tallied a team-best nine digs and also finished with four assists.

Penn State Altoona got out to a solid start in the first set, before Hiram used a big run in the middle stages to power past the Lions. Two kills apiece by Silva and Gebre, along with one kill from Perehinec, helped Penn State Altoona work its way out to an 8-7 lead. But from that point, the Terriers ripped off a 9-2 run to jump ahead 16-10. Hiram maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the set, winning it by a six-point margin.

In the second set, the Lions battled back from a deficit to tie the score late, but the home team still edged out a victory. Trailing 17-11 and coming out of a timeout, Penn State Altoona embarked on a 9-3 run to knot the score at 20-20. During that run, the Lions got kills from Gebre, Baker, and Bodisch, along with a service ace by Trey Sadler (Grantville, PA/Lower Dauphin). After Hiram called a timeout, it reclaimed the lead following a Lion attack error and a kill. Penn State Altoona secured two of the next three points to bring the difference to one, 23-22, getting a kill and a block from Silva. But the Terriers proceeded to win two of the next three points, using a kill and a service error to win the set by two.

Penn State Altoona kept pace with Hiram for the first part of the third set, but the Terriers ultimately pulled away to win. Down 9-5, the Lions scored four of the next five points on kills from Baker, Kish, and Bodisch and a Hiram attack error to cut their deficit to one, 10-9. After two kills by the home team, Silva's kill kept the difference at two points, 12-10. But Hiram finished the set by outscoring Penn State Altoona 13-4, clinching the match win.

With its loss, Penn State Altoona men's volleyball was eliminated from the AMCC Tournament.