ALTOONA, Pa. - January 24, 2020 – Tom Supan tallied a career-high 22 kills, but the Hiram Terriers men's volleyball team fell to the Penn State Altoona Lions, 3-2, in their 2020 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) opener.

With the Terriers up 6-4 early on in the first set, Penn State Altoona used an 11-3 run to open a 13-8 lead and force Hiram to take a timeout.

Out of timeout, the Terriers closed the gap to just three on a kill from Andrew Gard, and eventually pulled to within one, 19-18, on Dangelo Boehner's block. After two quick Lion points, Hiram again pulled back within one, but Penn State Altoona scored three of the next four following their timeout to take the first set, 25-22.

The Terriers and Lions went back-and-forth to open the second set and stood tied at 7-7 before Hiram went on an 11-4 run to take a seven-point, 18-11 lead. Supan smashed four kills over the stretch as the Terriers pulled away.

Following a timeout, Penn State Altoona pulled with five, but Hiram answered with a 5-0 run and scored seven of the last nine points of the set to pick up the 25-15 victory, evening the match at one set apiece.

The Lions scored three quick points to start the third set, but the Terriers came back to even the score at 9-9. A 5-1 run gave the Terriers a 14-12 lead, forcing Penn State Altoona to take a timeout, but the Lions came back out the timeout to knot the third set at 17-all and take a 19-17 lead.

Hiram scored three-straight on two Supan kills and an attack error, but Penn State Altoona finished off the third set with five-straight points to take a 2-1 lead.

Hiram though, would respond to send the match to a decisive, fifth set. Following four ties in the early part of the fourth set, Hiram opened a four-point lead on the Lions on a block by Gard and Supan.

A service error made it a five-point lead, but the Lions scored three-straight to cut the lead to just two, 22-20. A service error slowed the run, but two more from Penn State Altoona made it a one-point game.

However, Hiram took a timeout and regrouped, scoring the last two points of the set to pull out a 25-22 victory and force a fifth set.

The Lions opened an early lead in the fifth set, but Hiram wouldn't go quietly cutting Penn State Altoona's lead down to one, 11-10. The Terriers though, weren't able to tie things up, and though they held off match point once, Frank Perehinec's kill would finish off the match, giving the Lions the 3-2 victory.

Hiram falls to 2-1 (0-1 AMCC) with the loss, while Penn State Altoona moves to 1-2 (1-0 AMCC) with the win.

Supan led the Terriers with his career-high 22 kills, while Nathan Cassell also notched a career-high with 14 kills. Jake Lininger tallied a team-high 28 assists while Andrew Diaz added 13.

Defensively, Lininger and Cory Fischer each led the Terriers with eight digs, while Boehner recorded six blocks.

Hiram will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 25 when they head to Huntingdon, Pa. for a pair of a matchups against ranked foes at the Juniata Invitational. The Terriers will face 15th-ranked Stevenson at 10:30 a.m., before a matchup with the No. 1-ranked SUNY New Paltz Hawks at 2:30 p.m.