HIRAM, PENN STATE ALTOONA ADVANCE TO MEN'S VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS

#3 Hiram College and #4 Penn State Altoona each earned first round victories in the AMCC men's volleyball championship tournament to advance to the semifinal round on Friday evening. Hiram defeated #6 Medaille College 3-0, while Penn State Altoona defeated #5 Thiel College also by a 3-0 margin.

#3 Hiram d. #6 Medaille, 3-0
In set one, Hiram began pulling away after three-straight points were scored by the Terriers making the score 8-4 Hiram. As the opening set progressed, the home team's steady lead continued to grow. In the middle portion of the set, Hiram scored five of six points capped off by a Tom Supan service ace. The final seven points of the set were scored by the Terriers with back-to-back kills from Nathan Cassell and Supan closing out a dominant 25-12 win.

Medaille opened set two tight as Malachi Jackson had two-straight kills. A few points later, the Mavericks continued keeping things close. Four out of five points were scored by Medaille, tying the set at 14. After the Hiram timeout, the No. 3 seed put together three points in a row with back-to-back attack errors from Medaille.
Hiram kicked it into gear near the end of the set as Andrew Diaz de Padilla had a service ace nearly closing out set two with the score 23-18. Kilvio Montero closed out the second set with two straight kills with the Terriers winning, 25-21.

The Terriers went on a rally of six-straight points with two attack errors from Medaille opening an 8-4 lead in the third set. After trading points near the middle of the set, another massive Hiram run saw eight of nine points go the Terriers' way with a big 22-11 lead now prevailing. Medaille scored four in a row, but three of the final four points were scored by the Terriers, with Supan ending it on a kill with the score 25-16.

Supan led the attack with 15 kills, a team-high. Montero had eight with Dangelo Boehner collecting seven. Diaz de Padilla  had 31 assists, with Cory Fischer having six digs.

#4 Penn State Altoona d. #5 Thiel College, 3-0
The first set started off close between the Lions and the Tomcats. Philip Silva 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 and Jared Kish teamed up for a duo block to make it 14-11, and Jared Bodisch 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 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 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.