Men’s Volleyball Suffers Losses in AMCC Quad Saturday
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona hosted an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference men's volleyball quad match on Saturday afternoon at the Adler Athletic Complex, welcoming league opponents Penn State Behrend, Thiel College, and Wittenberg University to campus.
The Lions (7-6, 1-3 AMCC) suffered a tough 3-2 loss to Penn State Behrend (7-5, 3-1 AMCC) in their first match of the day, before falling 3-1 to Thiel (6-9, 3-1 AMCC) in their second match.
In the two neutral site matches, Wittenberg (10-6, 3-1 AMCC) defeated Thiel 3-2 and Penn State Behrend 3-0.
Match One
Penn State Behrend came out on top of a back-and-forth match that went to five sets. Penn State Altoona won the opening set 25-23 before Behrend bounced back for a 25-17 win in the second set and a 25-19 victory in the third. The Lions forced a fifth set by prevailing 25-22 in the fourth, but Behrend claimed the match win with a 15-9 win in the final set.
Brian Sheddy (Shrewsbury, PA/Susquehannock) posted a career-high 17 kills to lead Penn State Altoona, and he added nine digs and two block assists. Dan Downs (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) totald 15 kills and a team-high five block assists. Ben Beaver (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) registered 10 kills and seven digs, and Jon Ramsey (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) added seven kills, one solo block, and one block assist.
Danny Dry (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) had a team-high 30 set assists to go along with nine digs, and Kyle Whiteman (Northampton, PA/Northampton) finished with 14 assists and eight digs. Tyler Chan (Framingham, MA/Framingham) led all players in the match with 13 digs.
Match Two
Thiel took the first set 25-23 over Penn State Altoona in the Lions' second match of the afternoon. The home team bounced back to grind out a 29-27 win in the second set, but the Tomcats won the next two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-18.
Sheddy again made headlines in his team's second match of the day, becoming the Penn State Altoona men's volleyball program's all-time record-holder for matches played. In his four-year Lions volleyball career, Sheddy has played in 103 matches.
Sheddy led the Lions in kills with 13, and he also finished with six digs. Downs recorded 12 kills, while Beaver had 11 kills and a team-high two solo blocks.
Dry again led Penn State Altoona in assists, registering 22. Whiteman chipped in 17 assists and seven digs. Chan had a team-high 14 digs.
Penn State Altoona men's volleyball hosts its final home match of the 2019 season tomorrow, Sunday, February 24, when it faces AMCC opponent Wittenberg University for a 1:00 p.m. match in the Adler Arena. It will be Senior Day for the men's volleyball team, with senior player Sheddy being recognized in a pre-match ceremony.
