LATROBE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team competed in its fifth tri-match of the season on Sunday, taking on Saint Vincent College and Mount Aloysius College in a pair of non-conference matches hosted at St. Vincent's Robert S. Carey Center.

Penn State Altoona (6-4) battled back from a 2-0 deficit in its first match to defeat host St. Vincent 3-2. In the second match, the Lions took care of Mount Aloysius, 3-0.

Penn State Altoona will face off with St. Vincent and Mount Aloysius later this season in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play.

Match One: Penn State Altoona 3, St. Vincent 2

Penn State Altoona trailed two sets to none in its first match of the day on Sunday, but the Lions rallied to defeat St. Vincent (6-6) by a score of 3-2. The home Bearcats posted wins in the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-23, but Penn State Altoona began to build momentum with a wild 31-29 victory in the third set. The Lions kept pushing and prevailed 25-17 in the fourth, before coming back to win the fifth set 17-15.

Avery Farabaugh (Ebensburg, PA/Cambria Heights) and Willem Del Priore (Seven Valleys, PA/Dallastown) each had a career match offensively for Penn State Altoona. Farabaugh put up a career-high, team-high 29 points on 20 kills, five service aces, and a career-best four solo blocks, with his ace and block totals leading all players in the match. Del Priore recorded career bests in both points and kills, finishing with 24 points and a team-high 22 kills while adding 10 digs, a solo block, and an ace.

Mason Grover (Penfield, NY/Penfield) led all players in the match in assists, posting a season-high 56 assists to go along with two aces, a solo block, a block assist, and a kill.

Farabaugh and Grover's statistics set new Penn State Altoona single-match records, with Farabaugh's 29 points and Grover's 56 assists each setting new team records in those categories for a single match.

Meanwhile, Jared Kish (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Darby) contributed 12.5 points on nine kills, three solo blocks, and a block assist, while Connor Ebersole (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) scored 12 points on 10 kills and a pair of solo blocks. Xavier Vang (Rogers, MN/Rogers) had seven points on six kills and an ace, and his 18 digs tied for the team lead while also representing a career high.

In the first set, St. Vincent pulled away late to win it after both teams battled evenly throughout the set. Two Ebersole kills helped Penn State Altoona to an early 3-2 advantage, and a Vang kill preceded back-to-back Farabaugh aces that made it 6-4. Kills from Kish and Del Priore kept Penn State Altoona's lead at two, 8-6. The Bearcats responded with a 6-0 run, thrusting the home team into a 12-8 lead, but Penn State Altoona answered with a 6-0 run of its own, getting two kills and a solo block from Farabaugh and a Grover ace to jump back on top, 14-12. Later, kills from Del Priore and Kish helped the Lions cling to a 19-18 advantage, but St. Vincent outscored Penn State Altoona 7-2 the rest of the set to prevail by four, 25-21.

St. Vincent started the second set by establishing a six-point lead, 11-5, before Penn State Altoona chipped away at its deficit to make things close. The Lions used a 7-2 run that included three Farabaugh kills and two Del Priore kills to narrow the gap to 13-12. Penn State Altoona continued to hang around, eventually tying the score at 17-17 on a Vang ace, then making it 18-18 on a Kish kill. St. Vincent worked back in front and widened its lead to three points, 21-18, but Del Priore kills on consecutive plays made it a one-point difference, 21-20. Kills from Kish and Farabaugh kept the Lions within one, as did a St. Vincent serving error that narrowed the Bearcats' advantage to 24-23. But the home team came up with the set-clinching point on the next play, pulling out a 25-23 victory to lead the match 2-0.

The third set was another closely contested affair, with Penn State Altoona ultimately pulling out the win in a back-and-forth set. The Lions scored the set's first three points on two Del Priore kills and an Ebersole kill, but St. Vincent worked its way back and took an 18-15 lead midway through the set. After that, four straight points by the Lions propelled the visitors into the lead, capped by a Kish solo block that put his team up 19-18. After St. Vincent reclaimed the lead, 20-19, a Del Priore kill tied the score and a Vang kill put Penn State Altoona ahead by one. The Bearcats countered by scoring four of the next five points to get to set point, 24-22. But Penn State Altoona stayed alive, thanks to back-to-back Ebersole kills that knotted the score at 24. After a Bearcat point, Del Priore scored a kill to make it 25-25, and one point later, a St. Vincent service error and Vang kill put the Lions up by one, 27-26. St. Vincent again nabbed the lead, 28-27, but Penn State Altoona answered with kills from Del Priore and Farabaugh to go up by one, 29-28. The teams traded serving errors in the next two points, keeping Penn State Altoona on top, 30-29, and a Kish kill finally ended the set at 31-29 as the Lions stayed alive in the match.

Penn State Altoona rolled its momentum into the fourth set, where the Lions earned an eight-point win to even the match score at 2-2. Down 10-9, Penn State Altoona reeled off five straight points to leap in front, 14-10, while getting an Ebersole block and a Del Priore kill along the way. A Del Priore ace increased Penn State Altoona's lead to five, 16-11, and two Farabaugh aces made it 20-13. A kill from Vang kept his team's lead at seven, 21-14, and a pair of Del Priore kills got Penn State Altoona to set point, 24-16. A St. Vincent service error provided the winning point for the Lions, who grabbed the victory by a score of 25-17 to force a fifth set.

In the fifth, Penn State Altoona rallied late to complete its comeback attempt. After a Del Priore kill tied the score at 9-9, St. Vincent went on a 5-1 run to get to set point, 14-10. But the Lions came back to score the next four straight points, including two kills and a solo block by Farabaugh, to even the score at 14-14. The teams exchanged points in the next two plays, and the score remained tied, 15-15. A Bearcat attack error put Penn State Altoona into the lead on the next point, and Vang followed with a kill to give the Lions a 17-15 win in the set and a 3-2 victory in the match.

Match Two: Penn State Altoona 3, Mount Aloysius 0

In its second and final match of the day, Penn State Altoona cruised to a sweep over Mount Aloysius (3-6), winning in three sets by scores of 25-15, 25-18, and 25-14.

The Lions' Farabaugh had match-highs with 16 points, 13 kills, 10 digs, and three service aces. Kish totaled 10 points on seven kills, an ace, and a team-best two solo blocks.

Del Priore and Landen Fisher (Altoona, PA/Altoona) contributed six points apiece. Del Priore had five kills and an ace while adding five digs, and Fisher totaled three aces, two kills, and a solo block. Ebersole chipped in five kills, and Vang tallied four kills.

Grover finished with a match-high 32 assists to go along with five digs.

Penn State Altoona played to a comfortable win in the opening set with the Mounties. Leading 5-4 early, the Lions scored 12 of the next 15 points to open up a 10-point lead. During that stretch, Penn State Altoona got two kills apiece from Farabaugh and Del Priore, as well as one kill each from Ebersole and Kish. Two more Farabaugh kills helped to boost Penn State Altoona's advantage to 13 points, 21-8. Later, a Fisher ace got the Lions to set point, 24-14, and a Zach Gahagan (Martinsburg, PA/Central) kill ended the set at 25-15, in favor of Penn State Altoona.

In the second set, Mount Aloysius scored the first two points before the Lions responded with five in a row, including two Ebersole kills and one from Farabaugh. An ace from Farabaugh extended Penn State Altoona's lead to 11-6, before the Mounties used an 8-3 run to cut their deficit to two, 14-12. But the Lions bounced back, scoring six of the next seven points to increase their lead to 20-13, including getting a pair of aces and a solo block from Fisher. Kills by Kish and Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) helped make it 22-15, and a Kish solo stuff put the score at 23-15. Another Kish kill got Penn State Altoona to set point, 24-17, and Fisher's kill sealed the Lions' set win, 25-18.

Penn State Altoona iced the sweep with a lopsided victory in the third set. The Lions scored the first five points of the set, including two kills from Del Priore and one apiece from Ebersole and Farabaugh. Several points later, three straight Lion points on a Farabaugh kill, Del Priore ace, and Vang kill increased Penn State Altoona's lead to 10-2, and a Kish block made it 13-3. Kills from Kish and Vang kept their team's advantage at 10 points, 15-5, and a Kish ace upped the difference to 11 points, 17-6. A Grover ace and Gahagan kill made it 21-8, a Fisher kill set the score at 22-9, and Pratt's kill made it 23-10. Farabaugh scored a kill to get it to set point, 24-14, and a Mount Aloysius attack error concluded the set at 25-14, as Penn State Altoona posted a sweep for its second victory of the day.

Penn State Altoona men's volleyball will return to action later this week for its first mid-week match of the schedule, as the Lions will travel to Mechanicsburg, Pa. to take on non-conference foe Messiah University on Wednesday, February 14 at 7 p.m.