ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Penn State Altoona men's volleyball team took a pair of losses to ranked teams on Saturday in the Nazareth University Tournament, when the Lions were handed a pair of 3-0 losses by Nazareth and Juniata in the Kidera Gymnasium.

Penn State Altoona (10-10) started its day with a 3-0 loss to No. 19 Nazareth, then fell 3-0 to No. 6 Juniata to finish its weekend in the two-day tournament.

Match One: Penn State Altoona 3, Nazareth 0

Nazareth (13-9) took care of the Lions in three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-10, and 25-12.

Lucas Petrones (Oxford, PA/Avon Grove Charter) scored a team-high seven points for Penn State Altoona on seven kills. Caleb Fries (Altoona, PA/Altoona) had six points on four kills and two service aces, and Jack McKenna (Manahawkin, NJ/Southern Regional) also had six points on six kills. Owen Pratt (Pennsburg, PA/Upper Perkiomen) added five points on five kills.

Mason Grover (Penfield, NY/Penfield) tied for the match high in sets with 20.

Adam Chan (Framingham, MA/Framingham) led all players in the match with nine digs.

Penn State Altoona started the first set with a 4-3 lead, after getting two kills from McKenna and two Nazareth errors. The Golden Flyers jumped ahead and built a 15-10 lead, but the Lions closed the gap to 15-14, helped by kills from McKenna and Fries and a pair of Fries aces. Two kills by Pratt helped Penn State Altoona even the score at 17-17, but Nazareth pulled ahead again and eventually won the set by four points, 25-21.

The Lions got kills from McKenna and Petrones early in the second set, but Nazareth worked its way out to a 13-3 advantage. The Golden Flyers expanded their lead to as many as 15 points over the rest of the set, and Nazareth prevailed 25-10.

Nazareth again got out to a big lead in the third set, when the Golden Flyers scored 12 of the first 16 points. Penn State Altoona got kills from Fries, Petrones, and Grover later in the set, but the Lions suffered a 25-12 loss, as Nazareth clinched the sweep.

Match Two: Juniata 3, Penn State Altoona 0

Penn State Altoona battled the Eagles (22-2) close in the first set, but Juniata pulled out a 28-26 victory. The Eagles won the second and third sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-17, respectively, to deal the Lions another three-set loss.

Fries had a team-high 11 points for the Lions on nine kills, two block assists, and a service ace. Petrones recorded seven points on seven kills, McKenna totaled 5.5 points on five kills and a block assist, and Jacob Sandowski (Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandburg) had five points on two kills, two block assists, one solo block, and an ace.

Grover led the Lions in assists with 17.

McKenna had a match-high 11 digs, and Petrones added nine digs.

Juniata established a 15-10 lead midway through the opening set, before Penn State Altoona stormed back and held a late advantage. Trailing 21-18, the Lions scored three points in a row on an Eagles service error, a Fries kill, and a Juniata attack error to tie the score at 21-21. One point later, Penn State Altoona reeled in three more points on a Petrones kill, Grover ace, and block from Fries and Jason Velez (Forest Hill, MD/Bel Air) to get to set point, 24-22. Juniata fought back to knot the score at 24-24, then worked ahead, 26-25. Fries' kill brought the Lions back even, 26-26, but Juniata used a Penn State Altoona attack error and a kill to eke out a 28-26 victory in set one.

Early in the second set, after a Fries kill made it 1-1, Juniata went on a 7-0 run to establish an 8-1 lead. With Penn State Altoona behind 14-7 later, the Lions used a 7-2 run to close the gap to two points, including getting kills from Fries, McKenna, and Petrones, as well as a Sandowski solo block. But Juniata responded with a 7-0 run to make it 23-14, and the Eagles went on to claim a 25-15 victory in the second.

Juniata worked its way out to a commanding 22-11 advantage in the third set. Despite a late 6-1 run from Penn State Altoona, which included a Joshua Harclerode (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) kill and a duo block from Velez and Fries, the Lions fell 25-17, as Juniata nabbed the sweep.

Next up, Penn State Altoona men's volleyball gets into Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play, as the Lions will host league opponent Penn State Behrend on Saturday, March 22, at 1 p.m.