NEAC: Penn State Altoona, SUNY Poly Advance to NEAC Men's Volleyball Final Four
GANSEVOORT, N.Y. – With Tuesday’s First Round matchups complete, Penn State Altoona and SUNY Poly will complete the field for the 2018 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Men’s Volleyball Final Four. The semifinal and final round of the tournament will be hosted by NEAC Regular Season Champion and top-seeded Lancaster Bible at the Horst Athletic Center on April 14-15.
Lancaster Bible and No. 2 seed Wells College received a first-round bye in the postseason tournament. The first semifinal game will feature No. 1 Lancaster Bible versus No. 4 Penn State Altoona on Saturday at noon. The second semifinal will follow at 2:30 p.m. with No. 2 Wells College facing No. 3 SUNY Poly. The winners of the semifinal matchups will meet in the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. The tournament champion will receive an automatic berth to the 2018 NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Tournament.
First Round
Game 1: No. 5 Medaille College 1, No. 4 Penn State Altoona 3
Medaille College opened the night by taking the first set, 25-22, but the defending NEAC Champion Penn State Altoona took the next three en route to a 3-1 win in Tuesday’s match. Medaille’s Steven Ebert (Center Moriches, N.Y.) led all players with 13 kills while Matt Dempsey (Clarence, N.Y.) recorded 42 assists and 10 digs in the loss. Penn State Altoona had three players hit double-digits in kills with Dan Downs (Reading, Pa.) and Ian Rathgeb (Douglassville, Pa.) racking up 11 apiece. Tommy Kisick (Latrobe, Pa.) tied a game-high with 42 assists and Brandon Arentz (Mount Wolf, Pa.) finished the night with a match-high 18 digs. Senior Justin Bannister (Willow Hill, Pa.) also provided solid defense for the Nittany Lions with 11 digs, four solo blocks and two block assists. The Mavericks close out their season at 7-22 overall while the Nittany Lions move on to the semifinals with a 16-12 record.
Game 2: No. 6 Keuka College 1, No. 3 SUNY Poly 3