ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team played a pair of matches on Saturday – one on the road and one at home – and came away with a win and a loss.

Penn State Altoona's (8-7) first match of the day was on the road Saturday morning, as the Lions traveled to Juniata College and suffered a 3-0 loss to Nichols College during the Eagles Invite. Penn State Altoona returned home that night for its second match and swept Wittenberg University 3-0 in Adler Arena.

Match One: Nichols 3, Penn State Altoona 0

Penn State Altoona began its day in Huntingdon, where it faced Nichols (7-10) as part of Juniata College's Eagles Invite. The Lions went down in three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-21, and 25-21.

Caleb Fries (Altoona, PA/Altoona) had a team-high 11 points for Penn State Altoona on 10 kills and a solo block, and he also recorded a team-leading eight digs. At the conclusion of the match, Fries was named to the All-Tournament team for the Eagles Invite. Landen Fisher (Altoona, PA/Altoona) and Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) each scored six points on six kills.

Jack McKenna (Manahawkin, NJ/Southern Regional) had 5.5 points on five kills and a block assist, while Michael Hansen (Palatine, IL/William Fremd) chipped in 4.5 points on two kills, one service ace, one solo block, and one block assist.

Zayden Tamashiro (McLean, VA/McLean) led the Lions in assists with 19, while Mason Grover (Penfield, NY/Penfield) contributed five assists.

Penn State Altoona led midway through the first set, only to see Nichols come back to take the lead and ultimately pull away for the win. Two early kills by McKenna and one from Pratt helped the Lions go up 7-5, and later, three straight kills by Fries, McKenna, and Hansen made it 14-12. But Nichols surged ahead with an 8-1 run, and the Bison went on to win the first set by five points, 25-20.

The Lions worked their way out to another lead in the second set. After trailing 3-0 to start, a Fries kill, two Nichols attack errors, and a block from McKenna and Hansen put Penn State Altoona up 4-3. Later, three straight Lion points on kills from Fries and Fisher and a Hansen ace made it 9-6. Fisher and Fries each scored kills to help get Penn State Altoona's advantage to 13-10. But Nichols used another run to turn the tables on the Lions, this time outscoring Penn State Altoona 6-2 to jump ahead, 16-14. Over the rest of the set, Fisher netted two more kills and Fries scored one kill, but the Bison ended the second set with a 25-21 win.

Three Pratt kills helped Penn State Altoona work its way out to a 9-7 lead to begin the third set. But Nichols scored three points after that to take the lead, and the Lions never led again the rest of the way. Kills from Pratt, Fisher, Fries, and McKenna helped keep Penn State Altoona within three points, 20-17, of the Nichols lead midway through the set. But despite late kills from McKenna and Hansen, the Bison pulled off the match sweep with a 25-21 victory in the third set.

Match Two: Penn State Altoona 3, Wittenberg 0

by Casey Burinskas

Penn State Altoona was back home for its second and final match of the day, when the Lions faced off against Wittenberg (13-8) in Adler Arena on Saturday evening. Penn State Altoona took care of the Tigers in three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-19, and 25-23.

Fries totaled a match-high 16 points for the Lions on 15 kills and one service ace, and McKenna contributed 10 points on nine kills and two block assists. Hansen had 6.5 points on four kills, three block assists, and one ace, Pratt scored six points on five kills and an ace, and Fisher recorded five points on three kills and two aces.

Tamashiro put up a match-best 34 assists to go along with one service ace, one solo block, and one block assist.

Adam Chan (Framingham, MA/Framingham) finished with a match-high 11 digs.

In the first set, Hansen and McKenna put up a point with a block at the net. Hansen came back again with a kill, and a kill from Pratt put the Lions up quickly, 5-4. Later, two kills from Fries fell in, along with a block from Tamashiro, to put the Lions up 12-11. Starting to fall behind later in the set, a kill from Fisher and a kill from Fries led the way to a comeback. A kill by Pratt and a service ace from Hansen tied the game up at 20-20, coming down to the final points. Wittenberg put up four errors, leading the Lions to 24, and with a service ace from Pratt, Altoona closed out the first set with a win of 25-22.

Starting the second set, a kill from McKenna and an attack error from Wittenberg led the Lions off strong. Two kills from Hansen and errors from the other side led to a tied score at 6-6. Wittenberg began to pull away, but the Lions responded with two kills from Fries and a kill from Fisher to bring the game back even at 9-9. With a serve from Pratt, Wittenburg made an error that allowed Altoona to go ahead 10-9. A service ace later in the set from Fisher and a kill from Fries helped Altoona increase its lead to 14-11. Kills from Pratt and Fries led the Lions up to 20 points, and with a block error from Wittenberg and two final kills from McKenna, Altoona closed out the second set with a winning score of 25-19.

In the third set, a Wittenberg ball handling error and a service ace from Fries helped put Altoona in the lead, 6-3. Two Wittenberg attack errors and a kill from McKenna had Altoona leading by five early in the set. Two more kills falling in from McKenna and another from Fries landed Altoona an even bigger lead, 16-11, with victory in sight. McKenna and Hansen put up two more kills late in the set, and a final kill from Fisher got the Lions to set point, 24-23. Wittenberg committed an attack error on the next point and ended the third set for Altoona by a final score of 25-23.

Next, the Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team will be on the road on Wednesday, February 26 at 7 p.m. against Wilson College.