BUENA VISTA, Va. – The Southern Virginia University men's volleyball team got the 2023 season underway on Friday night, taking down Penn State—Altoona in convincing fashion, 3-0.

"Anytime you win it is a big deal but how you win also becomes important and we did not let down at all tonight," declared Head Coach Tom Peterson. "Everyone got the chance to play and contribute in the match and we kept up high levels of concentration no matter who was in the game or what the score was."

The Knights got off to a hot start, scoring the match's first seven points before a service error got the Lions on the board. Altoona was able to string together a few points to cut the deficit to six, but another seven-point run by Southern Virginia made the score 23-10. A block by Jayton Hall and Steven Rasmussen would close out the first set with a score of 25-11.

The second set began with a little more back and forth as the Lions came out with much more energy than the first. After a kill from Jared Kish cut the lead to four, the Knights grabbed six of the game's next seven points to take control of the set. Although Altoona would add a few more points, Christian Sheaffer would record two of his game-high nine kills in the final stretch to secure the set for his team.

In the third and final set, Southern Virginia overpowered Altoona, limiting the visiting team to just nine points in the set. This was just the sixth time in program history that the Knights held an opposing team to single digit scoring in a 25 point set. The 35 points in the match scored by the Lions is also the lowest point total gained by an opposition in program history for the Knights.

"There were times where we played really good defense tonight," stated Peterson. "Not only were we able to get the ball up but there were multiple times where we made a good play afterwards as well that led to points."

Back-to-back aces from Jayton Hall closed out the match and gave the team its first victory of the 2023 campaign. Hall was impressive in his debut, recording five aces and four kills while hitting .571.

Jeremy Brown was another player who stood out, hitting a perfect six-for-six on the evening. Brown is now one of only three players in school history to record six or more kills while hitting 1.000, joining Paul Clark and Mitch Usevitch.

The Knights Head Coach also praised the sophomore outside saying "I'm very happy for Jimbo. He's very physically gifted and swings hard but has been working on his consistency. It's rare for a player to go so long without having an error and shows all his hard work is paying off."

Jimbo had this to say after his stellar performance: "To quote coach Russ 'it all starts with a pass'. Our passing was good tonight and that gave Tyler and Bryce all they needed to be able to do their thing and dish. It's really easy to swing when the sets were that good."

"Coming back after two years was a little nerve racking but now I got a great team that has my back and it makes it so much easier," added Brown who last played during the 2021 season. "Also having all the support of the crowd in the barn is amazing. All I can say is it's good to be home."

Middle blocker Steven Rasmussen had a great start to his senior season, notching five kills while hitting .714 and also adding two block assists. "Steven also had a great game hitting," continued Peterson. "He was also perfect until a couple errors towards the end of the game and I was very happy with his performance."

On the defensive side of the ball the Knights were led by Justin Madsen who recorded 15 digs. "Kudos to Justin on an excellent performance tonight," exclaimed coach Peterson. "He is getting to be very very good."

The Knights have a quick turnaround, returning to the court tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 21. They will take on visiting Lancaster Bible College in Knight Arena at 5 p.m.

"The team we play tomorrow is a very good team," said Peterson of the upcoming contest. "It will be a good match and hopefully we will be able to do some of the things we did tonight again tomorrow. Only having to play three sets tonight helped us keep some energy, but it will all be about execution tomorrow."

"Get fueled up, hydrated, and a good night sleep," stated Brown on what he will do to prepare for tomorrow. "Honestly I just love to play, I'd play every night if I had the opportunity, so I couldn't be more exited for tomorrow's game."

To follow along with tomorrow's match and for all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's volleyball visit knightathletics.com and follow @knightmvolleyball on Instagram.