by Casey Burinskas

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The No. 2 seed Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team took on No. 3 seed Penn State Behrend in the semifinal round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament Friday night at Canisius High School, where Behrend overcame a 2-0 deficit to hand the Lions a 3-2 loss.

Penn State Altoona (14-13) appeared poised for a victory after winning the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-22. But Behrend rallied to deal the Lions a tough loss, taking the next three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-16, and 15-11 to pull off a reverse sweep.

With its win, Behrend will face No. 1 seed Buffalo State University for the AMCC Championship tomorrow, Saturday, April 12, at 3 p.m. Penn State Altoona is eliminated from the postseason.

The Lions got a match-high 20.5 points from Caleb Fries (Altoona, PA/Altoona) on 17 kills, three service aces, and one block assist. Michael Hansen (Palatine, IL/William Fremd) recorded 12.5 points on seven kills, four aces, and three block assists.

Jack McKenna (Manahawkin, NJ/Southern Regional) scored 11.5 points on 11 kills and a block assist, Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) contributed nine points on nine kills, and Landen Fisher (Altoona, PA/Altoona) chipped in 4.5 points on three kills, an ace, and a block assist.

Zayden Tamashiro (McLean, VA/McLean) put up a match-leading 41 assists to go along with three kills and two block assists.

Adam Chan (Framingham, MA/Framingham) tallied a team-high seven digs.

In the first set, Altoona started behind Behrend by two, until Fisher landed a kill and a service ace to get on the board and tie the score at 2-2. The Lions never let Behrend take the lead after that, and Fries had back-to-back points with an ace and a kill to grow Altoona's advantage. Up 12-9, Altoona's McKenna and Hansen both found kills on the court to help the Lions take a four-point lead, 14-10, midway through the set. Later, Fries put up another ace to give the Lions a 23-19 lead, and two McKenna kills helped Altoona take the first set by a score of 25-20.

Starting the second, Altoona took off right away with a 5-2 lead, including points falling in on kills from McKenna and Hansen. Pratt put up three kills to help land the score at 11-8, with Altoona still not allowing Behrend to take the lead. Both sides traded errors over the next several points, and Hansen's service ace later helped Altoona widen the gap to four points, 20-16. Behrend made it a one-point difference, 21-20, in the final points of the set, but Altoona held on to the lead after Fries secured a kill and Fisher followed with a kill of his own. Two final errors from the Behrend side got the Lions to victory in the second set by a score of 25-22.

Down to the third, Behrend pulled ahead quickly with four straight points to start the set. Altoona responded when Fries and McKenna were able to find kills, and a service ace from Hansen got the Lions back to within one, 8-7. Trailing 15-12, a Behrend service error and a kill for Fries made it a one-point difference. Soon after, Hansen tucked away a service ace to keep the Lions within one, 17-16. But a few more points fell in for Behrend, which held a lead the rest of the way to take the third set, 25-21, and bring the match score to 2-1.

Behrend pulled away very quickly in the fourth set by jumping out to an 8-1 lead. Service aces from Fries and Hansen, along with kills from Fisher, Pratt, and McKenna, helped Altoona gain some momentum, as the Lions narrowed the Behrend lead to 13-9. Three points later, a block came in from Fries and Hansen, but Behrend increased its lead over the rest of the set and took the fourth with a score of 25-16, tying the match score at 2-2.

Into the fifth and final set, Behrend again took an early lead by scoring the first four points in a row. Altoona picked up points on a service error and a kill from McKenna, and two straight kills by Fries and Pratt helped the Lions stay within four points later, 10-6. Trailing 13-7, Altoona tried to rally from behind with a 4-0 run on kills from McKenna, Fries, and Hansen that cut its deficit to 13-11. But Behrend bounced back with a pair of kills after that to close out the set at 15-11 and hand Altoona a five-set loss.

Notes: At the conclusion of the AMCC Tournament, Fries was named to the All-Tournament team for his performance during the conference postseason.