ERIE, Pennsylvania - January 28, 2025 - The Hiram men's volleyball team closed the offseason with a scrimmage against Penn State Behrend and met again on Tuesday night for the first time in-season, beating the Lions in a four-set thriller.

The Terriers fell short in the first set, but gained back momentum to win the final three sets against Penn State Behrend inside the Junker Center: 19-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-20. The victory improved Hiram's record to 3-2. 

Hiram showed improvement throughout the match, ending with a hitting percentage of .184, while PSB finished with a hitting percentage of .100. The team combined for 48 kills, with Derek Chiang (13 kills), Jackson Deubner (12), Connor Tilton (11), Garrett Scheidegger (five), Kyle Martini (five) and Matthew Albano (two) all filling the stat sheet in the kill department. 

Derek Chiang was the centerpiece of the Hiram offense, while Albano was a consistent distributor, posting a season-high 38 assists as the starting setter. Albano is now 23 assists away from reaching 2,000 career assists. 

The Terriers displayed determination and hard work, going on multiple scoring runs to put pressure on the opposition. Most notably, Albano performed well behind the service line in the third set; the senior helped turn a four-point deficit into a 10-8 lead to force the Lions to call a timeout.

Hiram went on to win that third set thanks to 5-0 and 4-0 runs, and eventually claimed the match victory by leading for most of the fourth set.

Next on the agenda for Hiram men's volleyball is a road matchup against a big rival opponent, Wittenberg University, on Thursday at 7 p.m. from Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, Ohio.