BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (Mar. 19)– The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team split a pair of matches at an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) tri match, defeating Hilbert in the opener by a 3-0 score, before falling in three sets to host Geneva in the nightcap.
Match 1: Saint Vincent 3, Hilbert 0 (25-15, 25-23, 26-24)
Matthew Minkin paced Saint Vincent with 17 kills in the day's opener, while Ethan Kammerer added 10 and Anthony Ditonto six. Kammerer also led SVC with two blocks, while Connor McCune led the team with 13 digs. Matthew Furrer dished out a game-leading 37 assists.
Hilbert took the first three of four points in set number one, with an SVC service error and attack error. SVC and the Hawks traded the next few points, before the Bearcats pulled ahead, 15-11.They continued to add down the stretch, closing the set on a 10-4 run to take the 25-15 set victory.
Hilbert got off to a strong start in the second set, opening up leads of 7-2 and 11-5, before the Bearcats used a team effort to charge back. After two kills from Minkin, two Hilbert errors and a Ditonto kill, the Bearcats pulled to within 13-10, and after the two teams traded points, the Bearcats went on another lengthy run. A pair of Hilbert attack errors cut the SVC deficit to 17-16, before Minkin put down kills on back-to-back serves to push the Bearcats in front, 18-17. The Hawks tied it on three different occasions down the stretch, but SVC recorded two of the final three points, capped off with a Ditonto kill to win the set, 25-23.
Saint Vincent opened up a 4-1 lead in the third set, but Hilbert responded with four of the next five points to tie it at 5-all. The Bearcats answered with three straight points, capped off by a Mark Stephenson ace, to go up 8-5, before the tide would swing toward the Hawks, who would eventually take an 18-15 lead. The back-and-forth theme continued, with SVC putting together a 6-2 run capped off by a Minkin ace to reclaim a 21-20 lead. The Hawks battled back to force ties at 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24, but a Hilbert error and a Minkin kill gave SVC the decisive final two points to seal the straight-set win.
Match 2: Geneva 3, Saint Vincent 0
The Bearcats were strong out of the gates to open the day's second match, quickly jumping out to a 7-3 lead on a Golden Tornadoe ball handling error and kills from Mark Stephenson, Minkin, Ditonto, Furrer and Kammerer. The Saint Vincent lead would dwindle to one, 11-10 but Geneva would then steal the momentum by scoring eight of the next ten points to lead by three 17-14. The Bearcats would cut the lead to four off a Geneva service error 21-17. The Golden Tornadoes closed out the set by scoring four of the final seven points to take a 25-20 win.
Geneva got off to a strong start in the second set, jumping out to a 16-8 lead. The Bearcats countered back with five straight points off of three Geneva attack errors and two service aces from Stephenson. As was the case in the previous set, however, Geneva heated up down the stretch, ending the set on a 5-2 run to take it by a 25-20 score.
The Golden Tornadoes kept the momentum as the third set began, scoring the first three points before eventually opening up a 14-10 lead. The Bearcats battled back with a 4-2 run to pull to within two, 16-14, on a service error from Geneva, but they would get no closer, as the Golden Tornadoes upped their lead over the remainder of the match to close out a 25-19 win and take the second match of the day.
Minkin again led the Bearcats with eight kills. Ditonto and Kammerer led SVC with two blocks apiece, while McCune led the defense with nine digs. Furrer handed out 18 assists.
The Bearcats will return to action on Wednesday, Mar. 23, when they travel to Cresson, Pennsylvania, to take on AMCC foe Mount Aloysius at 7 p.m.
