BETHANY, W.Va. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team resumed play on Saturday, when the Lions competed in a non-conference tri-match hosted by Bethany College in the Hummel Field House.

Penn State Altoona (7-6) suffered a 3-2 loss to Roanoke College in its first match of the day, then swept Bethany 3-0 in the second.

Match One: Roanoke 3, Penn State Altoona 2

Penn State Altoona came out on the losing end of a back-and-forth, five-set match with Roanoke (7-6) to start the day. The Lions won the opening set 25-20, before Roanoke came back with a 25-23 victory in the second set. The teams exchanged set wins again, with Penn State Altoona posting a 25-17 win in the third and the Maroons taking the fourth set 25-21, but Roanoke prevailed 15-8 in the decisive fifth set.

Avery Farabaugh (Ebensburg, PA/Cambria Heights) led Penn State Altoona's attack with 21 points on 18 kills, two service aces, and a solo block. Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) scored 12 points on seven kills, two aces, and a team-best three solo blocks.

Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) totaled 10 points on 10 kills to go along with nine digs, and Willem Del Priore (Seven Valleys, PA/Dallastown) had nine points on nine kills while tallying a team-high 10 digs.

Mason Grover (Penfield, NY/Penfield) put up a match-high 42 assists.

Penn State Altoona rallied late in the first set, turning a one-point deficit into a five-point win, thanks to a 6-0 run. Trailing 20-19, the Lions scored six unanswered points to come back and claim victory. During that stretch, Penn State Altoona got two kills from Del Priore, one from Grover, and a solo block that scored the set-winning point for the Lions.

In the second set, Roanoke overcame a six-point deficit in the latter stages of the set to win it. Down 21-15, the Maroons went on a 5-0 run that trimmed the Lions' lead to one, 21-20. After a Roanoke setting error, the Maroons got two kills to even the score at 22-22. Farabaugh notched a kill on the next play for Penn State Altoona, but Roanoke nabbed the next three points to complete its comeback and win the second set 25-23.

In the third set, Penn State Altoona steadily pulled away throughout the set to finish with a comfortable, eight-point win. Leading 15-13 midway through the set, the Lions outscored Roanoke 10-4 to prevail 25-17. Three of Penn State Altoona's final 10 points came courtesy of kills from Farabaugh, Grover, and Ebersole, and a Farabaugh ace ended the set in favor of the Lions.

Roanoke stayed alive in the match by grinding out a close win in the fourth set. Despite trailing for most of the set, Penn State Altoona stayed within striking distance throughout. The Lions capitalized on errors late in the set by Roanoke to stay within one point, 19-18, of the Maroons' lead. Ebersole's kill got Penn State Altoona to within two points, 23-21, but Roanoke scored the next two points to win the set 25-21 and tie the match score at 2-2.

Roanoke started the fifth set with a strong lead, scoring seven of the first eight points. Three straight points from Penn State Altoona late in the set, including a Del Priore kill, narrowed the Lions' deficit to three, 10-7. A service error by the Maroons kept the difference at three, 11-8, but Roanoke reeled off four straight points to win the set 15-8 and take the match.

Match Two: Penn State Altoona 3, Bethany 0

Penn State Altoona bounced back in its second and final match of the day, posting a dominant 3-0 sweep of host school Bethany (0-10). The Lions won by set scores of 25-4, 25-11, and 25-14 while compiling a .379 attack percentage and committing just seven attack errors.

Ebersole tallied a match-high 11 points for Penn State Altoona on six kills, a match-best four aces, and one solo block. Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) had eight points, tying for the match-high in kills with seven, serving up one ace, and leading all players with nine digs.

Kish had seven points on three aces, two kills, and two solo blocks, and Landen Fisher (Altoona, PA/Altoona) also had seven points on four kills, two solo blocks, and an ace.

Grover led all players in the match in assists, totaling 21.

Penn State Altoona established a commanding 17-0 lead in the first set, including getting three kills apiece from Farabaugh and Pratt. The Lions outscored Bethany 8-4 the rest of the way, with Zach Gahagan (Martinsburg, PA/Central) tallying two kills, Pratt and Fisher having one kill each, and Matt Yadush (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) scoring the set-winning point on an ace.

The Lions had their best hitting performance of the day in the second set, when the Lions posted a .611 team attack percentage. With the score tied 3-3, the Lions used a 6-0 run to work their way in front, including getting two aces from Ebersole and two solo blocks from Kish. One point later, Kish and Ebersole scored back-to-back kills, and a Bethany attack error and Yadush service ace increased Penn State Altoona's lead to 13-4. Kills from Fisher, Gahagan, and Ebersole helped make it 18-7, and Pratt's kill and Ebersole's kill and block boosted the Lions' advantage to 21-9. Penn State Altoona scored the final four points of the set, including Ebersole's kill that ended it at 25-11.

Penn State Altoona had another strong performance in the third set, which the Lions won by 11 points. Up 6-4, Penn State Altoona scored three in a row on a Pratt kill and two Ebersole aces. Back-to-back kills from Yadush and Ebersole increased the Lions' lead to eight, 17-9, and Pratt's ace later made it an 11-point difference, 22-11. Fisher's ace was the clinching point, as Penn State Altoona won the set 25-14 to sweep the Bison.

Penn State Altoona men's volleyball will travel for another tri-match next Saturday, February 24, when the Lions will head west to Greenville, Pa. to compete in a pair of matches hosted by Thiel College. That day, the Lions will take on Thiel in the teams' Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opener at 1 p.m., then face non-conference Adrian College at 3 p.m.