BUFFALO STATE, BEHREND ADVANCE TO MEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

#1 Buffalo State University and #3 Penn State Behrend each earned victories in the AMCC Men's Volleyball Semifinals to advance to the championship match on Saturday afternoon. The Bengals defeated #4 Mount Aloyius College 3-0, while Behrend escaped the five-set match with #2 Penn State Altoona, 3-2. 

Buffalo State d. Mount Aloysius, 3-0
Top-seeded Buffalo State defeated fourth seed Mount Aloysius 3-0 to open the 2025 AMCC Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament. The Bengals took down the Mounties by scores of 25-22, 25-11, and 25-14. The first game stayed tight throughout, with Buffalo State never taking more than a three point lead throughout the entire set. The second set was a different story, as the Bengals jumped out to a 6-3 lead and just continued to build on their lead from there. The Mounties would never get within three points again, as the Bengals ran away with the 25-11 victory. Bufalo State started out with a narrow lead in set three, with Mount Aloysius keeping it a game for the first half. The set stayed close in the beginning, with the Bengals going up 10-6 as they started to pull away. The Mounties continued to battle, but the Bengals continued to slowly pull ahead, going up 19-13, which was as close as the Mounties would get for the remainder of the set. Buffalo State finished strong, taking the 25-14 victory in set three, thus sweeping the Mounties in the first semifinal matchup of the evening. 

Buffalo State senior OH Malachi Jackson led both teams with 17 kills, while Gavin Wilczewski added 13. Jackson also added five service aces and six digs on the night, while Drew Bowman added 41 assists for the Bengals.

Penn State Behrend d. Penn State Altoona, 3-2
The #3 Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team rallied back from two-sets down to defeat #2 Penn State Altoona 3-2 in the AMCC Semifinals. After falling behind, Behrend won three unanswered sets to compete for its third conference championship. The Lions hit .382 in the third set and knocked down 16 kills, one more than the first two sets combined. Behrend never trailed and took an early five-point lead at 7-2. Altoona tied it at 12-all and then closed the gap to one at 20-19 for a close third set. The Lions had set point four times and won off a kill by Luke Mumpower at 25-21. Altoona only got within four points in the fourth and Behrend had their best set, hitting .571 to even the match at 2-all. The Lions jumped out to a convincing 9-3 lead in the fifth set and pulled out a 15-11 victory thanks to five kills and five service aces. 

Daniel Easly led with 17 kills and added eight digs. Mumpower registered 25 assists, seven digs, four kills, three blocks and one service ace. Kyle Hoffman was the second player with double-digit kills with 12 to go with five block assists, four blocks and two service aces.

Buffalo State and Penn State Behrend will battle it out for the AMCC championship tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Canisius High School in Buffalo, NY.