ERIE, PA – The Medaille Men's Volleyball team finished a three-day, two state road trip Sunday afternoon; taking on the Lions of Penn State-Behrend and (13) Mount St. Joseph College. The Mavericks fell to the number (13) team in the country (1-3; 22-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-25) before defeating the host Lions (3-1; 25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23).

Medaille came into Sunday's contests coming off of a three-match, two-day trip to New Jersey to wrap up their longest weekend slate of the season. On Friday Medaille faced the number three and six teams in the country in Hoboken, before traveling to Ramapo College to take on the Roadrunners in Mahwah on Saturday morning.

By the time the Mavericks returned to action, they had traveled (838) miles to reach the first of their final two matches of the weekend against the Lions of (13) Mount St. Joseph. The Mavericks played the number (13) team in the country well in the first two sets, finishing with a hitting percentage over (.250) in each set.

Unfortunately for the Mavs, the Lions were able to outlast Medaille in each of those sets to take a (2-0) lead. The third set was the definition of a back-and-forth affair, until the Mavs were able to pull away late.

After Mount St. Joseph took an early (6-4) lead Medaille rolled off four of the next five points to take an (8-7) lead. After a Lion kill the Mavericks, led by a pair of kills from freshman Brad Schneider (Lockport, NY, Lockport), sparked a (4-0) run to take their largest lead of the set (12-8).

Mount St. Joseph battled back to tie the set at (21), but then the Mavs rattled off another (4-0) run to cut the Lions lead to (2-1). However, an impressive set offensively from Mount St. Joseph in the fourth and final set helped them edge the Mavs (3-1).

Brad Schneider had a triple-double in the defeat, earning (11) kills, (10) digs and (21) assists. Senior Jack Hagerty (Wheatfield, NY, Niagara Wheatfield) added (12) kills of his own, while fellow senior Nate Schneider (Lockport, NY, Lockport) had (12) digs.

After a brief rest, the Mavericks started their final match of the weekend against the host Penn State-Behrend Lions. Medaille looked to end the weekend on a high note, hoping to snap a four match losing skid.

It started as well as they could have hoped, taking control of the first set early. While they never put the Lions away, the Mavericks held them off each time Penn State-Behrend tried to make a run. Medaille took set number one (25-20).

After dropping set number two, the Mavs came out firing in set number three. Multiple kills from Hagerty and Brad Schneider gave Medaille a four point lead early. A (4-1) run sparked by a Sam Bloomberg (Lake Worth, FL, Park Vista) kill upped the lead to six as the Mavs cruised to a (25-20) win.

Set number four saw Medaille climb back from a quick (2-9) deficit to clinch their ninth win of the season (3-1; 25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23).

Brad Schneider continued his strong play, posting a double-double against Penn State-Behrend with (13) kills and (27) assists. Nate Schneider led the Mavs with (14) kills, while Hagerty and Calvin Crosby (Pendleton, NY, Starpoint) both finished with (8) kills each.

Freshman Matt Dempsey finished the day with (30) assists as Medaille improved their record to (9-7) overall. Medaille will be back at it on Friday, March 4 when they travel to Wilson University to take part in the second of four NEAC Crossover weekends.