LATROBE, Pa. (March 16) – The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team fell 3-1 in a tightly-contested Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference match against Penn State-Altoona in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
The Bearcats won the first set, 25-22, before the Lions came back to take the final three by scores of 25-17, 25-15 and 26-24.
 
Matthew Minkin had another big night to lead the Bearcats, totaling 20 kills, along with five digs and two aces. Ethan Kammerer put down 10 kills against just three attack errors, while totaling two blocks and two aces. Andrew Cassidy was a third SVC player to reach double-figures in kills, totaling 10 along with seven digs.
 
Matthew Furrer recorded a 37-assist, 14-dig double-double, while teammate Matthew Klasnic matched him with 14 digs.
 
In the opening set, the two teams traded points early on, before the Bearcats went on a 7-2 run to grab an 11-6 lead on a kill from Anthony Ditonto. The SVC lead would eventually stretch to seven, 18-11, after a pair of Lion errors, but the visitors roared back to eventually close the deficit to 19-17. Two aces from Minkin and a kill from Cassidy gave SVC a 23-18 lead, but the Lions would again put together a rally to close the gap to 24-22. They would get no closer, though, with a PSU-Altoona attack error giving the set to SVC, 25-22. The Bearcats hit a solid .185 in the first set compared to an .069 mark by the Lions, while SVC served four aces to the Lions' two.
 
The Lions led for the duration of both the second and third sets, before an entertaining and back-and-forth fourth set. PSU-Altoona looked primed to run away with it early, taking leads of 4-1 and 11-4. After an SVC timeout, the Bearcats charged back with a quick 4-0 run, with two kills from Minkin, one from Kammerer and an ace from Cassidy, to pull to within 11-9. Moments later, Kammerer served back-to-back aces to tie it at 13, before Minkin ended consecutive rallies with kills to give the Bearcats the lead, 16-14. Saint Vincent's lead would eventually stretch to 20-16 after Ditonto and Kammerer teamed up for a block, before the momentum would swing back toward the visitors with a 4-0 run that tied the match at 20. The Lions then regained a 23-22 lead, and though the Bearcats tied it at both 23 and 24, they were unable to put together a final roun and were dealt the defeat.
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, March 19, with a tri-match at Geneva College with Hilbert College. SVC's match with Hilbert begins at 2:30 p.m., before they take on the Golden Tornadoes at 5 p.m.