Lions Beat Tomcats 3-0 in AMCC Tourney Opener
by Christina Roukas
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team started its postseason with a victory on Tuesday night, defeating Thiel College 3-0 in the Adler Arena in a first round Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament match.
With its win, fourth seed Penn State Altoona (15-11) will advance to the AMCC Tournament semifinal round, in which the Lions will play top seed Penn State Behrend in Erie this Friday, April 8 at 6:00 p.m.
Penn State Altoona took care of fifth seed Thiel (10-18) in straight sets on Tuesday, winning by scores of 25-18, 25-21, and 25-17.
The first set started off close between the Lions and the Tomcats. Philip Silva (Brazil/Richard Montgomery) hit off the block and put Altoona up by one, 5-4, and he also recorded a cross-court kill that put the Lions ahead by two, 9-7. Silva's ace kept the Lions in the lead, 11-8. Connor Baker (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) and Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) teamed up for a duo block to make it 14-11, and Jared Bodisch (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) had a back row hit that extended Altoona's lead to five, 18-13. Later in the set, Silva scored a kill to put his team up 21-15, and a Kish kill closed the set at 25-18.
Trey Sadler (Grantville, PA/Lower Dauphin) tipped the ball for a kill to put Altoona on the board in the second set, and Silva scored a kill and then recorded a solo block to help tie the score at 4-4. Silva stayed hot with a kill that grabbed the lead for the Lions, 5-4. After the Tomcats responded with a kill to tie the set at 5-5, Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) scored a kill to break the tie. Sadler and Kish's duo block increased Altoona's lead to 11-8, followed by a kill by Bodisch. Back-to-back Thiel hitting errors capped the Lions' five-point run that gave the home team a 14-8 advantage. Two straight aces by Silva moved the Lions' lead to 20-15, and Altoona went on to win the second set 25-21.
In the third set, Kish scored a kill to tie the match, 2-2. Two aces in a row by Silva kept the score tied 7-7, and Sadler's tip-over put the Lions in the lead, 10-9. Baker scored an ace to extend Altoona's lead to 12-9, and back-to-back kills by Silva put the Lions up by six, 17-11. Altoona continued to hold the lead, and Sadler scored an ace to make it 19-13. Kish's kill put the Lions one point away from victory, 24-16, and a duo block by Sadler and Kish ended the set 25-17 to propel the Lions into the next round of the AMCC Tournament.
Silva had a match-high 20 points, 13 kills, and six service aces while adding six digs, two assists, and one solo block. Silva's six aces are tied for the second-most aces in a single match in Lions volleyball history.
Bodisch contributed 10 points on nine kills and one solo block, and Sadler had 8.5 points on six kills, three block assists, and one ace while chipping in two set assists. Kish had a team-high four total blocks with three block assists and one solo block to go along with five kills, and Ebersole also had five kills and one block assist.
Baker led all players in the match with 29 assists and 12 digs, and he also recorded one kill, one ace, and one block assist.
Micah Brinker (Lock Haven, PA/PA Cyber) totaled seven digs, and Jeremy Winter (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) tallied two digs.
As a team, Penn State Altoona posted a .329 hitting percentage, its second-best of the season.
