ALTOONA, Pa. – The Elizabethtown College men's volleyball fell to Penn State Altoona in straight sets Tuesday night in non-conference action.
 
With the loss, the Blue Jays fall to 10-8 overall while the Lions improve to 6-9.
 
Senior Nick Baxter hit .310 with 18 kills. Freshman Blake Hildebrand also had double digit kills with 10 while junior Joey Nelson had 11 digs. Freshman Dan Barckholtz (26 assists) and sophomore Tim Zieber (11) combined for 37 assists.
 
Sophomore Ben Beaver led Penn State Altoona with 12 kills. Freshman Tyler Sheaffer registered a match-high 31 assists.

ELIZABETHTOWN 0, PENN STATE ALTOONA 3 (28-30, 22-25, 19-25)

• SET ONE: Looking to close out the opening set, the Blue Jays held a 24-23 lead after an attack error by the Lions forcing a timeout by the home team. Elizabethtown came out of the timeout and got to match point three more times at 25-24, 26-25 and 27-26 thanks to two kills by Baxter and one from freshman Steve Swain. Penn State Altoona continued to battle out of the hole and secured match point for the first time at 28-27. Hildebrand tied things up at 28 with a kill, but the Lions fired home the final two points of the opening set to win the marathon 30-28 for the 1-0 advantage.
• SET TWO: Tied at 11 midway through the second stanza, the Lions rattled off three straight points to go up 14-11. The Blue Jays battled back and cut the deficit to one (15-14) after a kill from freshman Cheston Jacobs, but Penn State Altoona used another 3-0 run to move ahead by four (18-14). Elizabethtown rallied with four straight points of its own to knot the score up at 19 after a tremendous block by Baxter and freshman Tony Camillo. After the two squads swapped 3-0 runs, the two teams found themselves tied at 22. The Lions took a timeout and came out the break to score the final three points for the 25-22 victory and a 2-0 advantage.
• SET THREE: Down 7-3 to open the third set, the Blue Jays climbed back within one at 8-7 and 10-9. Elizabethtown continued to hang close and tied the match at 14 after Zieber found Baxter for a kill. Penn State Altoona crept back in front after this and then took control of the match at 18-17, rattling off an 8-1 run to finish the third with a 25-19 win and close out the 3-0 victory.

• NEXT MATCH
  Elizabethtown heads south for two matches this weekend starting with Eastern Mennonite Friday, Feb. 28. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m.