ERIE, Pa. – Hilbert Men's Volleyball dropped a three-set AMCC road match to Penn State Behrend Wednesday evening inside the Junker Center Gym. The Hawks fell by scores of 25-22, 25-12, and 25-12.

Hilbert (3-14, 1-3 AMCC) came out strong in the opening set, hitting an impressive .311 behind 16 kills and just two errors on 45 attempts. The Hawks battled point-for-point with the Lions and trailed by only three late before the Lions closed out the 25-22 win.

Penn State Behrend (13-5, 5-1 AMCC) found its rhythm in the second and third sets, combining for a .397 hitting percentage across the final two frames while holding Hilbert to a -.158 clip in set two and .038 in set three.

As a team, Hilbert recorded 25 kills, 23 assists, 2 service aces, 1 block, and 41 digs.

D'Andrea Nikolas led the Hawks offensively with nine kills, while Justin Veal added five kills and a service ace. Michael Pozzuto chipped in four kills and eight digs.

Mehkai Francis directed the offense with 21 assists to go along with eight digs and one ace.

Defensively, Jacob Sehn posted a team-high 11 digs. At the net, Sam Rastelli and Xavier Edwards each contributed a block assist.

The Hawks return to AMCC action this weekend when they travel to Central Pennsylvania for a back-to-back battle.  Hilbert will face Mount Aloysius Friday, March 6 in a 7 pm contest then challenge Penn State Altoona March 7th at 1pm before heading back to WNY.