HIRAM, Ohio - April 7, 2021 – No. 1 Hiram College men's volleyball swept the No. 4-seeded Penn State Altoona Lions, 3-0, on Wednesday in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament semifinals to advance to the AMCC Tournament Championship on Saturday.
 
The Terriers will host Penn State Behrend in the championship match on Saturday with the winner receiving an automatic berth to the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Tournament in Salem, Va.
 
The Lions opened the first set with a pair of kills, and led by two points in the early going. But the Terriers stormed back to tie the game at 8-8 on a kill by Kilvio Montero, and from there, never trailed the rest of the match.
 
Hiram rattled off four-straight to force Altoona to take a timeout, and then added two more out of the timeout to extend their lead to 12-8. The Lions slowed the Terriers' run with two points of their own, but Hiram kept themselves out in front the rest of the way, and finished off a 25-19 first-set victory on a Lion service error.
 
Both sides started the second set out with a pair of service errors, before the Terriers took advantage of three Altoona attack errors to take a 4-1 lead. A 6-1 run made it a 7-2 Hiram lead, before the Lions slowly cut away at the deficit.
 
Down 11-6, Altoona pulled within two, but the Terriers answered to pull back up by four. The Lions again pulled within three on a kill by Philip Silva, but a service error and kills by Andrew Gard and Tom Supan made it 17-11.
 
However, the Lions wouldn't go away quietly, roaring back with a 9-3 run to knot the second set at 20-all on another Silva kill. A Penn St. Altoona attach error gave Hiram a 21-20 lead, and Montero made it 22-20 with one of his 12 kills.
 
Silva again cut the deficit to one, but Montero answered back to make it 24-22. An attack error made it 24-23, but the Terriers again closed the set on an Altoona service error, taking the second set, 25-23, and a 2-0 match lead.
 
Following a back-and-forth start to the third set, Montero gave Hiram the lead with back-to-back kills. Hunter Rock's service ace put Hiram up 7-4, but the Lions responded, closing the gap to just one on a kill from Jared Bodisch.
 
But with a 10-2 run, Hiram pulled ahead for good, opening up a 20-11 lead on a kill from Hunter Rock.
 
Penn St. Altoona would get as close as eight on an attack error by Hiram, but three more from the Terriers made it 24-13, before Hiram finished off the match on an Altoona attack error to take the third set, 25-14, and the match, 3-0.
 
With the win, the Terriers move to 9-1 (7-0 AMCC) on the year, while Penn St. Altoona falls to 3-6 (3-4 AMCC).
 
Supan led the Terriers with 14 kills, adding a team-high three aces, while Montero joined Supan in double-figures with 12 kills. Jake Lininger led the Terriers with 20 assists, while Cory Fischer led Hiram defensively with six digs.
 
As a team, the Terriers hit .256, while holding Altoona to a .088 hitting percentage. Hiram especially turned it on in the third set, hitting .400.
 
The No. 1-seeded Terriers will now host the No. 3-seeded Penn St. Behrend Lions on Saturday, April 10 in the AMCC Tournament Championship game, with the winner advancing to the 2021 NCAA Div. III Men's Volleyball Tournament.