Lions’ Strong Performance Leads to 3-0 Sweep of Misericordia
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona men's volleyball played one of its most complete matches of the young 2020 season on Thursday evening, when the Lions took down non-conference opponent Misericordia University 3-0 in the Adler Arena.
Penn State Altoona (2-4) corralled its second home win of the season, prevailing over Misericordia (4-3) by scores of 25-13, 25-19, and 25-18. The Lions played a relatively efficient match, hitting .253 as a team while spreading 14 attack errors over three sets. The team also stayed away from miscues in other areas, committing just six service errors, three ball handling errors, and one reception error, blocking error, and setting error.
Nikolas Ferraro (Toms River, NJ/Donovan Catholic), Frank Perehinec (Altoona, PA/Altoona), and Tyler Sheaffer (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) tied for the team lead in kills with seven apiece. Ferraro also recorded one solo block and one block assist, Perehinec had a match-high three solo blocks, five digs, and one service ace, and Sheaffer led the Lions in assists with 17, tied for the team-high in digs with 12, and chipped in a block assist and an ace.
Nathaniel Reinert (State College, PA/State College) contributed six kills, six digs, and one ace. Ben Beaver (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin) finished with 12 assists, five kills, two solo blocks, and one block assist. Mirko Pandini (Milan, Italy/Greater Latrobe) totaled four kills, one solo block, and one block assist.
Matthew Vandeveire (Washington, D.C./West Springfield) tied for the team-high in digs with 12 and added one ace. Eric Cassaday (Bel Air, MD/Bel Air) posted four digs and an ace.
Penn State Altoona took advantage over 11 attack errors by Misericordia in the first set, en route to a dominant 12-point win in the game. With the score tied 4-4, two Perehinec kills and one Beaver kill gave the home team a three-point lead. Four blocks by Penn State Altoona over the next several points helped increase the Lions' advantage to 16-5, and back-to-back kills from Perehinec and Pandini made it 20-7. Ferraro's kill got Penn State Altoona to 24 points, and one point later, a service error by Misericordia finished off the set.
The Lions started the second set on a 4-0 run, getting two kills from Ferraro, one kill from Beaver, and a Misericordia attack error during that span. Two more kills from Beaver and Ferraro, along with Reinert's ace, built a 7-2 lead for Penn State Altoona. Misericordia hung around, however, and eventually narrowed their deficit to 16-15 midway through the set. But Penn State Altoona never relinquished its lead, and the Lions did enough to stay on top for the remainder of the set.
Misericordia got off to a strong start in the third set, staking out an 8-3 lead in the early going. But Penn State Altoona responded with an 8-2 run to jump in front, getting three kills from Sheaffer and one apiece by Pandini, Reinert, and Ferraro during the run. After Misericordia tied the score 11-11, a Reinert kill put the Lions back on top, and Penn State Altoona never looked back. Leading 22-18, the Lions reeled off three straight points to win the set and the match, getting an ace from Perehinec, an attack error by the visitors, and a kill from Alistair Lawson (Kennett Square, PA/Unionville).
With the first month of the 2020 season under their belts, the Lions will return to the road for a non-conference match next Thursday, February 6 at 7:00 p.m. against first-year program Saint Vincent College.
