LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 11) – The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team split a non-conference tri match in the Robert S. Carey Student Center, recovering from a 3-2 loss to Penn State-Altoona in the opener with a 3-0 sweep of Mount Aloysius in the nightcap.

With the sweep, SVC improves to 7-6 on the season.
 
 
Match 1: Penn State-Altoona 3, Saint Vincent 2
 
In the opening set, the Bearcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, taking the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-23, but the Lions roared back to claim the final three, winning by scores of 31-29, 25-17 and 17-15.
 
Sophomore Shawn McSwiggen had a monster game for the Bearcats, recording a team-record 31 kills and hitting at a .422 clip. He was one of three SVC players to reach double-digits in kills, as Matthew Minkin put down 12, and Zebadiah Wyant 11. Zach Wyant handed out 44 assists.

Defensively, libero Matthew Klasnic picked up 19 digs, and was one of three SVC players to record at least 10, with Zach Wyant notching 12 and Minkin 11. Six different players accounted for the Bearcats' six blocks, including Minkin, McSwiggen, Zebadiah Wyant, Zach Wyant, Rocco Marino and Zachary Mumpower.
 
After Saint Vincent jumped out to an early 4-3 lead in the first set, the teams exchanged a number of runs, with the Lions rattling off three straight points to take a 6-4 advantage, and the Bearcats countering with six unanswered points to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 12-6 lead. In keeping with the script, the Lions responded with a 6-0 run of their own to pull in front 14-12. The teams traded points over the next several rallies, before the Bearcats closed the set on a surge. Tied at 19, an Altoona attack error kickstarted a 6-2 run for the Bearcats, which included three kills from McSwiggen and one from Zach Wyant, to close out the 25-21 set win.
 
SVC kept the momentum to open the second set, using kills from Minkin, McSwiggen and Zebadiah Wyant to open up an early 4-1 lead. The Bearcat advantage eventually swelled to 11-5 on another Minkin kill, but the Lions chipped away with another lengthy run to close their deficit to 13-12. After the Lions eventually tied the set at 18-18, two McSwiggen kills sandwiched an Altoona attack error to give the Bearcats some breathing room at 21-18. The Lions promptly cut the SVC lead to 21-20, but then committed three errors to end the set with a 25-23 SVC win.
 
In the marathon third set, Saint Vincent jumped out to leads of 12-8 and 14-10 and 18-14, but Lions answered back to take a 21-20 advantage. Moments later, kills from Minkin and McSwiggen would push SVC in front 24-22, but the Bearcats could not close out the set, with Altoona forcing ties at 24-24, 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27. McSwiggen's 25th kill of the match put the Bearcats in front 28-27, but again the Lions answered with two straight points to jump in front 29-28. An Altoona service error briefly tied it at 29, but the Lions then scored the final two points to stay alive with the 31-29 set win.
 
The squads traded leads throughout the early stages of the fourth set, before a Mumpower kill kicked off a 4-0 SVC run to put the Bearcats in front 11-9. From there, however, it was all Penn State-Altoona, which rattled off six straight points to take a 15-11 lead. The Lions' lead swelled to 20-13 after a pair of aces, and the Bearcats were unable to come back, with the visitors coasting down the stretch for the 25-17 win to force a decisive fifth set.
 
In the fifth set, neither team had more than a one-point lead over the first 20 serves, until SVC used a 4-1 run,  which included kills from McSwiggen and Zebadiah Wyant, to take a 14-10 lead. As was the case in the third set, though, the Bearcats could not close out the win. After the Lions answered with four straight points to tie it at 14, McSwiggen's 31st kill of the game gave SVC a 15-14 lead, but the visitors scored the final three points to take the set, 17-15, and seal the comeback victory.
 
Match 2: Saint Vincent 3, Mount Aloysius 0
 
In SVC's second match of the day, the Bearcats came back from an early six-point deficit to claim a 25-22 comeback win, before controlling play over the final two sets, with wins of 25-12 and 25-15.

Zebadiah Wyant led the way for SVC with a 15-kill, 10-dig double-double, while Minkin added eight kills and nine digs, and McSwiggen seven kills and four aces.  Zach Wyant also had a solid game from the setter spot, dishing out 27 assists, while totaling eight digs and a team-best three blocks.

As a team, Saint Vincent recorded a season-best .360 hitting percentage, totaling 40 kills and just eight errors.  
 
Mount Aloysius controlled play throughout much of the opening set, before the Bearcats staged a big comeback. The Mounties scored the first four points of the set, eventually jumping out to leads of 7-3, 13-7, and their largest margin, 17-11. After trading points with one another, a kill from Zebadiah Wyant, followed by a Mountie attack error, closed the gap to 19-15. Moments later, another Mount Aloysius error, this time on a serve, followed by kills from McSwiggen and Klasnic, pulled the Bearcats to within 21-19, and then an ace by Anthony Ditonto made it a one-point game. The Mounties scored the next point to regain a two-point advantage, but the Bearcats closed the set with four straight points, including two kills from Zebadiah Wyant and an ace from McSwiggen, to earn the 25-22 comeback victory and take a 1-0 lead.
 
In the second set, the Bearcats opened up a 6-3 lead following kills from Zebadiah and Zach Wyant, before pushing the margin to 10-5 on spikes from Marino and Minkin. After Zach Wyant's service ace increased the margin to 12-6, the Bearcats rattled off a 5-0 run to take a 17-8 lead on another kill from Zebadiah Wyant. The SVC lead continued to grow, swelling to 21-11 on another Ditonto ace, before the Bearcats closed out the 25-12 set with a kill from Zebadiah Wyant, a McSwiggen ace and a Zach Wyant block to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set followed a similar pattern, with SVC using kills from Ditonto, McSwiggen, Zebadiah Wyant, Marino and Minkin to jump out to a commanding 10-3 lead early on. Following a timeout, the Mounties beirfly closed the gap to 11-6, before SVC answered right back with six straight points, including kills from Minkin and Marino and a Zebadiah Wyant ace, to open up a 17-6 advantage. The Bearcats maintained the double-digit lead for the remainder of the match, with Chrystiaan Sexton's block making it 19-8, before kills from Sexton and Minkin and a Josh Havrilla block made it 22-9. Zebadiah Wyant then closed out the match by recording the Bearcats' final two points with kills to seal the 25-15 set win, and 3-0 match victory. The Bearcats fired on all cylinders in the final set, hitting a stellar .464, with 14 kills and just one error.
 
Saint Vincent will now have a two-week layoff before opening Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play with a 2 p.m. match at Hilbert College on Sunday, Feb. 25.