CRESSON, Pa. – The No. 2 seed Penn State Altoona women's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss to No. 3 seed Penn State Behrend on Saturday evening, in the teams' Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinal match in Mount Aloysius College's ACW Center.

Behrend (21-7) won the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-19, but Penn State Altoona (14-14) stayed alive with a 25-23 victory in the third set. However, Behrend bounced back for a 25-14 win in the fourth set to win the match.

Behrend advances to tomorrow's AMCC Championship match against top seed Mount Aloysius, while Penn State Altoona is eliminated from the conference playoffs.

Lia Simanski (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) accounted for a team-high 15 points for Penn State Altoona on 14 kills and a service ace, and Hannah Swank (Boswell, PA/Conemaugh Township) scored 12.5 points on 10 kills, two aces, and a block assist.

Maggie Brewer (NuMine, PA/West Shamokin) had 7.5 points on seven kills and a block assist, Morgan Fussell (Blairsville, GA/Union County) totaled 6.5 points on five kills, one solo block, and one block assist, and Jayden Ulmer (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport) chipped in four points on three kills and a pair of block assists.

Julia Emel (Woodward, PA/Penns Valley) put up 17 assists for the Lions, while Marlo Mellish (Kittanning, PA/Armstrong) recorded 16 assists.

Ella Hadley (Spring Mills, PA/Penns Valley) put up a match-high 24 digs, with Swank contributing 12 digs and Simanski finishing with 10.

Behrend established a 3-1 lead early in the first set, before Penn State Altoona worked its way back to tie the score at 5-5, getting two Brewer kills, an Ulmer kill, and a Simanski ace along the way. Kills from Fussell and Swank kept the score tied at 7-7, but Behrend began to pull away after that, creating a 16-12 lead and prompting a Penn State Altoona timeout. The Lions trimmed their deficit to one, 20-19, helped by Brewer and Simanski kills, but Behrend did not relinquish its lead and went on to win the set 25-22.

In the second, Behrend took the lead on the opening point and never trailed throughout the set. Swank and Campbell combined for a block early in the set to keep Penn State Altoona within three, 9-6, but Behrend outscored the Lions 6-1 over the next seven points to increase its advantage to eight points, 15-7. Penn State Altoona answered with a 7-1 run to close the gap to 16-14, including getting two aces from Swank and an ace by Hadley. However, Behrend scored the next three points out of a timeout and went on to win the set by six, 25-19.

Errors by Behrend helped Penn State Altoona to a 3-2 lead early in the third set. Back-to-back kills from Swank and Simanski tied the score at 9-9 later, and Ulmer and Brewer teamed up on a block to keep it even at 12-12. The teams continued to trade points, with kills from Swank and Fussell pushing the score to 18-18. Tied at 19, a Simanski kill and Mellish ace put Penn State Altoona up by two, and one point later, another Simanski kill made it 22-20. Behrend came back to tie the score at 23-23, but following a Penn State Altoona timeout, Swank delivered a pair of kills to put the Lions on the board in the match with a 25-23 set win.

Behrend stormed out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set and never looked back. The Lions were able to whittle away at their deficit and make it a one-point set, 8-7, after points from Simanski and Fussell. But Behrend ended the set in commanding fashion, outscoring Penn State Altoona 17-7 the rest of the way. The Lions picked up kills from Brewer, Swank, and Simanski over the remainder of the set, but Behrend prevailed by a comfortable margin, 25-14, to win the match in four and move on to the conference title match tomorrow.