Men’s Volleyball Downed by No. 7 Messiah
by Christina Roukas
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team dropped a home match against No. 7 Messiah University 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-17) on Wednesday night in Adler Arena.
Messiah (12-2) started the first set on a 5-0 run. Willem Del Priore (Seven Valleys, PA/Dallastown) served an ace to help the Lions (0-13) get within four, 7-3, and a duo block from Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) and Alex Ferry (Warren, PA/Warren) put the Lions behind by five, 13-8. Connor Ebersole's (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) kill later in the set made it 21-13, but Messiah won the first set 25-15.
In the second set, Xavier Vang's (Rogers, MN/Rogers) ace helped keep the Lions within one, 6-5, of an early Messiah lead, but the Falcons began to pull away midway through the set. A kill from Ebersole made it 18-11, but Messiah took a 10-point advantage over Penn State Altoona, 24-14, en route to a 25-15 set win.
In the third set, Del Priore scored a kill to help narrow a Messiah lead to 13-7, and Ebersole's kill kept the difference at six points, 14-8. Kish's kill kept the Lions in the match later, making it 22-15, but Messiah went on to win the third set 25-17 to sweep Penn State Altoona.
Ebersole led the Lions with seven points, recording six kills and a solo block. Del Priore had four points on three kills and a service ace while totaling a team-high five digs. Vang tallied 13 assists and one ace.
Ferry and Kish each finished with a block assist, and Jeremy Winter (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) had three digs.
The Lions head back on the road to play a tri-match hosted by Penn State Behrend this Saturday, February 25. Penn State Altoona will face its AMCC opponent, Behrend, in its first match of the day at 12 p.m. before taking on non-conference opponent Baldwin Wallace University at 2 p.m.