ALTOONA, Pa. – The No. 4 seed Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team won the first set of its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament first-round match with No. 5 seed Penn State Behrend on Tuesday night, but the visitors rallied to win the next three and defeat the Lions 3-1 in Adler Arena.

Penn State Altoona (15-12) pulled out a 25-22 victory in the first set, but Penn State Behrend (12-15) bounced back with a lopsided 25-10 win in the second set before taking the third and fourth sets by respective scores of 25-19 and 25-22.

Behrend will advance to the AMCC Tournament semifinal round this Friday, April 12, in Latrobe, where they will face top-seeded Saint Vincent College at 4:30 p.m. Penn State Altoona is eliminated from the playoffs with its loss.

Avery Farabaugh (Ebensburg, PA/Cambria Heights) led Penn State Altoona's attack with 14.5 points on 13 kills, one solo block, and one block assist, and he also tallied 10 digs. Willem Del Priore (Seven Valleys, PA/Dallastown) scored 11 points on 10 kills and a solo block to go along with nine digs.

Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) totaled 8.5 points on six kills, two solo blocks, and a block assist. Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) had six points on six kills, and Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) added four points on two kills, a service ace, and a solo block.

Mason Grover (Penfield, NY/Penfield) led the Lions in both assists and digs, finishing with 30 assists and a match-high 13 digs while also having one ace and one solo block.

Xavier Vang (Rogers, MN/Rogers) contributed eight digs while adding four assists.

Behrend held a modest lead for a large portion of the night's opening set, before Penn State Altoona pulled ahead late to win it. After the Lions worked their way out to a 6-4 advantage, Behrend used a 7-1 run to go up by four points, 11-7. Penn State Altoona responded with a 5-1 run to knot the score at 12-12, including getting aces from Kish and Grover, a kill from Farabaugh, and a block by Del Priore. Behrend reclaimed its lead, going up 17-14, and the visitors clung to a 21-20 advantage late in the set. But Penn State Altoona powered ahead by scoring five of the next six points to win the set. Kills from Ebersole and Del Priore helped get the Lions to set point, 24-22, and Ebersole and Farabaugh teamed up on a block to end the set at 25-22, in favor of Penn State Altoona.

Penn State Altoona struggled to get into a rhythm on offense during the second set, when the Lions managed just five kills, while Behrend had its most efficient performance of the night, committing just two attack errors and swinging at a .364 clip as a team. Grover's solo block accounted for the Lions' first point, and a Farabaugh kill later kept Penn State Altoona within one point of a Behrend lead, 4-3. But the visitors outscored the Lions 21-7 the rest of the way, including scoring 12 of the last 16 points, to seize a 25-10 victory in the second set.

The third set was evenly played until the latter stages, when Behrend used a late run to surge ahead. Trailing 11-10, a Farabaugh kill and Ebersole block put the Lions up by one, 12-11. Back-to-back kills from Ebersole and Pratt later gave Penn State Altoona another one-point lead, 14-13, and several points later, an ace from Landen Fisher (Altoona, PA/Altoona) set the score at 17 points apiece. But Behrend scored eight of the final 10 points to finish with a six-point win in the set, grabbing a 2-1 lead in the match.

Penn State Altoona overcame a deficit in the fourth set, only to have it slip away late. The visitors started the set with a 9-4 lead, but the Lions closed the gap to one, 9-8, with a 4-0 run that included a pair of Del Priore kills. More kills from Del Priore, Farabaugh, and Ebersole tied the score at 11-11, but the visitors scored the next four points to jump ahead. Down 16-13 shortly thereafter, Penn State Altoona took its first lead of the set by scoring the next four points, including an Ebersole kill and Farabaugh block. Two more Del Priore kills and two Behrend errors helped Penn State Altoona hold a 21-19 advantage, but Behrend scored four straight points after that to retake the lead. Ebersole's kill lowered the Lions' deficit to one, 23-22, but Behrend got the next two points to win the fourth set 25-22 and take the match three sets to one.