#1 HIRAM, #3 BEHREND ADVANCE TO AMCC MEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 1 Hiram College men's volleyball swept the No. 4-seeded Penn State Altoona Lions 3-0, while No. 3 Penn State Behrend picked up the 3-0 sweep over #2 Geneva College on Wednesday in the AMCC Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament semifinals. Hiram and Behrend will now advance to the AMCC Tournament Championship on Saturday at 1:00pm.
 
Altoona opened the first set with a pair of kills, and led by two points in the early going. But the Terriers stormed back to tie the game at 8-8 on a kill by Kilvio Montero, and from there, never trailed the rest of the match, finishing with a 25-19 first-set victory. Both sides started the second set out with a pair of service errors, before the Terriers took advantage of three Altoona attack errors to take a 4-1 lead. The Lions pulled within three on a kill by Philip Silva, but a service error and kills by Andrew Gard and Tom Supan made it 17-11. Altoona kept things close throughout the match, but the Terriers closed the set on an Altoona service error, taking the second set, 25-23, and a 2-0 match lead. Following a back-and-forth start to the third set, Montero gave Hiram the lead with back-to-back kills. Hunter Rock's service ace put Hiram up 7-4, but the Lions responded, closing the gap to just one on a kill from Jared Bodisch. But with a 10-2 run, Hiram pulled ahead for good, opening up a 20-11 lead on a kill from Rock. Penn St. Altoona would get as close as eight on an attack error by Hiram, but three more from the Terriers made it 24-13, before Hiram finished off the match on an Altoona attack error to take the third set, 25-14, and the match, 3-0.
 
Supan led the Terriers with 14 kills, adding a team-high three aces, while Montero joined Supan in double-figures with 12 kills. Jake Lininger led the Terriers with 20 assists, while Cory Fischer led Hiram defensively with six digs. As a team, the Terriers hit .256, while holding Altoona to a .088 hitting percentage. Hiram especially turned it on in the third set, hitting .400.

In Beaver Falls, PA, the No. 3 Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team upset the No. 2 Geneva Golden Tornadoes.

The Lions avenged a 3-1 loss during the regular season to the Golden Tornadoes to advance to the AMCC Championship match. The Lions held a 43-22 edge in kills over the three sets. In the first set, Behrend posted a .478 hitting percentage and held Geneva to .168 attack percentage. The Lions never trailed after losing the first point in the first set, registering 13 kills on 23 attempts gain a 1-0 lead in the match. Up 17-16 in the second set, Behrend went on an 8-3 run and won on a Cody Schnur solo block at 25-19. The third set was point-for-point until three straight kills from the Lions, including two from John Cageo for a four-point lead at 16-12. Behrend kept the small lead for good and relied on Schnur to close out the third set with a service ace for the victory. Logan Hering had 11 kills through the first two sets and finished with a match-best 14. Setter Diego Ortiz registered the lone double-double with 19 kills and 10 digs. Colin Dedert added nine kills and four digs.
 
The No. 1-seeded Terriers will now host the No. 3-seeded Penn St. Behrend Lions on Saturday, April 10 in the AMCC Tournament Championship game, with the winner advancing to the 2021 NCAA Div. III Men's Volleyball Tournament.