SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg men's volleyball team defeated Eastern Mennonite and Penn State Behrend by identical 3-1 scores in a tri-meet on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers defeated EMU 25-23, 25-17, 31-33, 25-22 in their first game of the day and got a 25-12, 25-22, 24-26, 25-22 victory over Penn State Behrend in the second game of the doubleheader.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (3-5 overall), Eastern Mennonite (7-4 overall), Penn State Behrend (1-8 overall)
• Venue: 1929 Gym - Springfield, Ohio

Stat Leaders - Game 1

• Sophomore Eli Halverson (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) led three Tigers with double-digit kills in the game, posting 18. Senior Tom Supan (Medina, Ohio/Medina) added 13, and freshman Reese Monnin (Xenia, Ohio/Carroll) tallied 11.
• Halverson hit .467 on 30 total attacks in the game.
• Senior Andrew Diaz de Padilla (Nipmo, Calif./Central Coast New Tech) led WU with 31 assists, and sophomore Sam Richardson (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) added 26.
• Supan had a team-best 14 digs to go with 12 from sophomore Jake Downs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Milford).
• David Ward led EMU with 21 kills.

Game 1 - Wittenberg 3, Eastern Mennonite 1

• A tightly contested first set featured 14 tie scores, the latest of which came at 17-all.
• Wittenberg scored the four points on a pair of kills by Halverson and one each from Supan and sophomore Moose Harper (Columbus, Ohio/Western Reserve Academy) for a 21-17 edge.
• EMU cut the deficit to 24-23, but a kill from Monnin gave the opening set to Wittenberg.
• The Tigers built a 20-13 lead in the second set en route to the 25-17 victory to go up 2-0.
• A marathon third set featured 17 tie scores and extended well beyond regulation. With the score tied at 31-all, EMU scored the next two points via a WU attack error and a kill to stay alive in the match.
• The fourth set was again tightly contested. Leading 22-21, the Tigers scored three of the next four points to win the match. All three points came via Halverson kills.
• Wittenberg hit .341 on 138 total attacks in the game, while EMU hit .281 on 114 total attacks.

Quote - Head coach Nathan Matthews - Game 1

• "The guys have been putting in the work and, statistically, have been playing some really high level ball. To finally get one to break our way is huge. I think we really made a breakthrough in terms of our mental toughness. I'm excited to try and keep the momentum rolling into the second match."

Stat Leaders - Game 2

• Halverson led the way for the Tigers with 13 kills to go with 11 each from Supan and sophomore Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard).
• Diaz de Padilla had a team-high 23 assists to go with 19 from Richardson.
• Three Tigers tallied double-digit digs. Supan led the way in that category with 17 to go with 15 from Halverson and 10 from Downs.
• Logan Hering and Owen Wienczkowski led PSU Behrend with eight kills each.

Game 2 - Wittenberg 3, Penn State Behrend 1

• The Tigers built a 20-11 lead in the opening set and finished on a 5-1 run for the 25-12 victory. Sophomore Trajan Kress (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) had a pair of kills in that run to go with one each from senior Kurt Klamforth (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) and junior Luke Teters (Waterford, Ohio/Waterford).
• A tighter second set saw the teams play to a 19-all tie before Wittenberg closed on a 6-3 run for the 25-22 victory. A kill from Supan provided the winning point.
• The teams played to a 10-all tie in the third set before Wittenberg put together a 9-3 run for a 19-13 edge.
• The Lions answered to eventually tie the score at 22-all and went on to win the third set by a 26-24 margin.
• A tightly contested fourth set saw the teams play to a 22-all tie before the Tigers clinched the match by scoring the next three points via kills from Supan, Yurk and Halverson.
• Wittenberg hit .218 on 142 total attacks in the game, while the Lions hit .087 on 126 total attacks.

Quote - Head coach Nathan Matthews - Game 2

• "This was another awesome battle where we showed a ton of resilience. This match saw us execute on all cylinders at times and get pretty sloppy at times. But to have guys like Michael Yurk bring their best when we needed it the most was big for our team."

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Friday at Illinois Tech at 8 p.m.