by Christina Roukas

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team's conference playoff run came to an end on Friday night, when the Lions lost 3-1 to Penn State Behrend in the semifinal round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament at the Junker Center.

Number one seed Penn State Behrend (21-7) won the first two sets 25-21 and 25-20 before fourth seed Penn State Altoona (15-12) got on the board with a 25-19 victory in the third set. But Behrend took the fourth set 25-21 to win the match and advance to the AMCC championship tomorrow, Saturday, April 9, at 3:00 p.m.

Penn State Altoona is eliminated from the AMCC Tournament with its loss. The Lions will hope to continue their postseason next week, when the team could potentially be selected to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division III Championship Tournament. That tournament's selection will follow the NCAA selection early next week.

In the first set, Behrend started with a three-point run until Trey Sadler (Grantville, PA/Lower Dauphin) recorded a kill on a hit in the corner to put Altoona on the board. Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) scored a kill to tie the set at 7-7, and Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) was involved in several blocks as the Lions surged ahead 16-10 against Behrend. However, Behrend came back to tie the score 20-20, then eventually win the first set 25-21.

In the second set, Philip Silva (Brazil/Richard Montgomery) scored an early kill, putting Altoona up by one, 5-4. After Behrend jumped into the lead, Kish's kill kept the Lions within one, 11-10, and Sadler's kill put Altoona back ahead 13-12. Ebersole and Connor Baker (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) combined for a duo block to make it 15-14, but Behrend worked its way back into the lead later in the set, going up 22-18. Back-to-back kills from Kish and Silva cut the Behrend lead to 22-20, but the home team scored the next three points to take the second set 25-20.

Behrend took a 2-0 lead to start the third set. Kish and Baker's duo block kept the Lions' deficit at two, 8-6, and Silva's kill put Altoona in the lead, 12-11. Kish scored a pair of kills to help extend Altoona's lead to 19-15, and Baker's block made it 23-18. Sadler's kill closed out the set, and Altoona won set three 25-19.

Silva tied the fourth set 3-3 with an early kill, 3-3, and the score remained close between the two teams for much of the set. Jared Bodisch (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) scored two kills midway through the set to knot the score 17-17, and after Behrend went up 20-17, Baker had another block to bring his team back to within two points. However, Behrend came out victorious with a 25-21 win in the fourth set to prevail in the match and advance to the conference championship.

Sadler led the Lions with 19.5 points, tying for the match-high with 16 kills to go along with 10 digs, a match-high three service aces, and one block assist. Silva contributed 10.5 points on 10 kills and a block assist, and he also tied for the match lead in digs with 15.

Kish had 8.5 points on seven kills and three block assists. Ebersole recorded six kills and two block assists, and Bodisch totaled six kills, seven digs, and one block assist.

Baker put up a match-high 41 assists while also recording two solo blocks, two block assists, and two kills. After the match, he was named to the AMCC All-Tournament team for his performance in the first round and semifinal round matches.

Micah Brinker (Lock Haven, PA/PA Cyber) contributed eight digs.