LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 26) - The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches in an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) triangular match in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.

In the first action of the day, SVC fell 3-2 to Penn State-Behrend, before falling in straight sets to Geneva in the nightcap.

Penn State-Behrend 3, Saint Vincent 2 (24-26, 23-25, 25-11, 25-10, 15-9)
In the first match of the day, the Bearcats took an early 2-0 lead over Penn State-Behrend after taking the first two sets by 26-24 and 25-23, respectively. Behrend then responded to take the final three sets by scores of 25-11, 25-10 and 15-9.

Matthew Minkin had another big game for SVC, posing an 18-kill, 14-dig double-double. Thomas Franey, Ethan Kammerer and Andrew Cassidy each had five kills for the Bearcats, while Matthew Furrer dished 30 assists and Matthew Klasnic recorded 22 digs. Franey and Anthony Ditonto shared the team lead with two blocks apiece, while Kammerer served two of his team's five aces.

Behrend jumped out to a 5-3 lead to open the first set, before the Bearcats charged back with three straight points to take a 6-5 lead on Minkin's first kill of the day. After the teams traded points over the next several rallies, the Bearcats used a 9-4 run, capped off with a kill from Franey, to go in front 14-10. The lead eventually grew to 16-11 before the Lions gradually chipped away at the deficit before forcing a 24-24 tie. Following a time out, Minkin closed out the set with back-to-back kills to give SVC the 1-0 match lead.

The second set began with five lead changes and 10 ties, before SVC used an ace and a kill from Cassidy and a kill from Minkin to cap off a 5-1 run and go in font 19-16. The lead would grow to five, 23-18, on a Franey kill, but Behrend countered with a late 5-1 run of its own to pull to within 24-23. The Lions were unable to keep the momentum, committing an attack error on the next serve to give SVC the 25-23 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The next two sets belonged to the Lions. In the third, they opened on a 9-1 run and never looked back, hitting a solid .375 as a team enroute to the 25-11 win. The fourth followed a similar theme, with Behrend opening on an 11-3 run before cruising to the 25-10 win and tying the match at 2-2. In the fourth set, Behrend committed just one error and hit .500 as a team.

In the decisive fifth set, the Lions took an early 4-1 lead, before the Bearcats answered to pull to within one, 8-7, following a string of Behrend errors. The Lions quickly regrouped to close on an 8-2 run to take the set, 15-9, and the match, 3-2.

Geneva 3, Saint Vincent 0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-15)
In the nightcap, Geneva earned a 25-22 win in a tight opening set, before taking the final two sets by scores of 25-12 and 25-15 to close out the 3-0 win.

Minkin again topped SVC with 10 kills, with Cassidy adding seven and Ditonto four. Furrer led the Bearcats with 19 assists, 11 digs and three blocks, while Klasnic recorded 10 digs and Kammerer two blocks.

Paced by kills from Ditonto and Cassidy, the Bearcats took an early 5-3 lead to open the first set. Geneva promptly tied it at 5-5, before a Cassidy kill spurred a quick 3-0 run to put SVC in front 8-5. Momentum then swung the way of the Golden Tornaodes, as they scored six straight points to jump in front 11-8. A kill from Minkin and an ace from Kammerer pulled the Bearcats to within 12-11, but the Golden Tornadoes responded with another long run to open their lead to 19-15. Saint Vincent refused to go away, twice pulling to within two points, with a Minkin kill cutting the deficit to 21-19 and a Furrer ace making it 23-21. The Bearcats would get no closer, with the Golden Tornadoes closing out the set with two of the final three points to claim the 25-22 win.

After Geneva opened the second set on a 9-3 run, kills from Cassidy and Minkin promptly pulled SVC to within four. The Bearcats would get no closer, however, as the Golden Tornadoes pulled away down the stretch, ending the set on a 10-2 run to close out the 25-12 win. The third set followed a similar theme, with Geneva opening with an 8-1 run. The Golden Tornado lead eventually swelled to 20-8 and the Bearcats were unable to recover.

Geneva turned in a strong offensive showing, recording 34 kills against only 10 errors for a .267 hitting percentage, while the Bearcats committed 25 errors and just 22 kills.

Saint Vincent will now have a week-long layoff before traveling to Buffalo, New York, for a March 5 tri-match at Medaille with Thiel. SVC's first match of the day will begin at noon.