Men's Volleyball Defeats Sage; Falls to No. 10 Hunter

ALBANY, NY – Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) tallied a combined 26 kills and Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) recorded 25 kills and 14 digs to help the Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team split a pair of non-conference matches on Saturday.

The Lions (8-11) opened up the day against No. 10 Hunter. Behrend won the first set 27-25 and then fell 25-22, 25-15 and 25-19 in the next three sets for a 3-1 final. Calvin Nowicki (Eden, NY/Eden) registered a triple-double in the match with 24 assists, 11 digs and 10 kills.

The Lions won the nightcap 3-0 over Sage (25-19, 28-26 and 26-24).

Munk posted a stat line of 14-1-19 in the second match along with five blocks. Dillon Hildebrand (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) tallied 10 kills and Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) added 24 assists.

In the first set against Sage, Behrend used an 8-3 run late in the set to take its largest lead at 24-17 and then win on a kill from Nowicki.

The final two sets were decided with extra points in the Lions favor. Down by two points at 21-19, Behrend had set point on four occasions thanks to kills from Hildebrand, Munk and Herrmann. The Lions won the second set on an attack error at 28-26.

Behrend had the lead in the third set except at one point early on and then fended off Sage down the stretch. An attack error put the Lions at 24-23 and Sage got the next point to even it at 24-all. Munk got his 14th kill to make it 25-24 and Behrend won with another error from Sage for the sweep.

Behrend took a 1-0 lead against nationally-ranked Hunter. In a set where neither team had a lead more than two points, the Lions had four kills for their final four points including two by Herrmann for a 27-25 decision. Behrend tallied a season-best 20 kills in the set and hit .447.

The second set was as close as the first until the end. This time Hunter came out victorious by three points at 25-22. Hunter never trailed in the third set for a 25-15 win and then went on an 8-0 run to start the fourth en route to a 25-19 victory.

In addition to Nowicki's triple-double, Herrmann finished with 17 kills and 10 digs. Hildebrand hit .346 with 14 kills and Sprentz dished out 27 assists.

The Lions return to action on Tuesday at Elmira. Match begins at 7 p.m.