Lions Win Second Straight Over D'Youville

ERIE, Pa.  – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team dominated not only offensively but also defensively with 10 blocks and 39 digs to go with 35 kills and seven service aces to defeat D'Youville 3-0 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Thursday.

The Lions (10-10, 3-1 AMCC) tied last year's number of wins in their first season as a varsity sport with nine regular season matches left to play thanks to a 25-15, 25-15, 25-15 victory over the Spartans (9-11, 3-3 AMCC).

Nathan Steele (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Tyler Karl (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) were near perfect with no attack errors and getting nine and eight digs, respectively. Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) tied Steele for a game-high nine kills, eight digs and two aces.

For D'Youville, Chris Krueger led with nine kills and Jay Senozetnik dished out 20 assists.

In the first two sets, Behrend was able to start the games with an 8-2 lead. The Lions only needed seven kills in the first game to take a 1-0 lead in the match. In the second, Behrend grabbed a 10-point lead on five occasions with the final coming on the set point off a kill from Kocher.

With one final chance to turn the game around, the Spartans took an early 4-1 lead in the third game. From there, the Lions went on an 11-4 run. Evan Fullerton (Ambridge, PA/Ambridge) had two services aces, Steele tallied three kills and Kevin Smith (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) earned an ace in the run to put Behrend ahead, 12-8.

After taking a 20-13 lead off a Karl kill, the Lions took advantage of four attack and two service errors by D'Youville to win the third set, 25-15.

Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) recorded eight digs and two blocks, while Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) added four kills and four blocks.

Behrend returns to action on Tuesday at Juniata. Match begins at 7 p.m.