by Christina Roukas

CRESSON, Pa. – On Wednesday night, the Penn State Altoona's men's volleyball team beat Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Mount Aloysius College 3-0 in the ACW Center.

The Lions (8-6, 5-1 AMCC) defeated Mount Aloysius (3-10, 0-6 AMCC) in three sets by scores of 25-9, 25-12, and 25-19.

In the first set, Philip Silva (Brazil/Richard Montgomery) started things off by scoring a kill, and his kill several points later increased the Lions' lead to seven, 10-3. That point was followed by a duo block by Silva and Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) that made it 11-3, and Ebersole also landed an ace, putting Penn State Altoona's lead at 18-6. Jared Bodisch (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) closed out the set with back-to-back aces, sealing a 25-9 win for the Lions.

With the score tied 1-1 in the second set, Penn State Altoona built a healthy lead by going on an 11-4 run, capped by Bodisch's kill that made it 12-5. Ebersole blocked an attack by the Mounties to make it 14-6, and Penn State Altoona went on to score 10 of the final 13 points to earn a comfortable 25-12 victory.

The Mounties came back in the third set with a 4-3 lead. However, the Lions took the lead on a Silva kill, but the Mounties stayed right behind them, keeping their deficit at one. Ebersole's kill put Penn State Altoona up 17-16, but the Mounties reclaimed the lead, 18-17, following two Lion errors. But Penn State Altoona responded with a 7-0 run to jump ahead once again. Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) scored a kill to put his team in a three-point lead, 21-18, and Martin's kill made it 24-18. Another kill by Martin provided the winning point for Penn State Altoona, as the Lions took the third set 25-19.

Bodisch led all players in the match with nine points and four service aces, and he recorded five kills and three digs. Martin contributed eight points on a match-high eight kills while adding three digs, and Ebersole also finished with eight points on four kills, two block assists, two service aces, and one solo block. Trey Sadler (Grantville, PA/Lower Dauphin) had 6.5 points on five kills, an ace, and a block assist while tying for the team lead in digs with four.

Connor Baker (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) put up a match-high 18 assists and also totaled four digs. Sadler chipped in five assists.

Avery Farabaugh (Carrolltown, PA/Cambria Heights) and Silva each recorded four digs and a block assist, and Kish also picked up a block assist.

The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team is back in action on the road Saturday, March 5 against a pair of AMCC opponents in Erie. The Lions start the day against Penn State Behrend at 12:00 p.m., then take on Hiram College at 2:30 p.m.