HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- In its first match against a future conference opponent, Houghton fell to visiting PSU-Behrend, 0-3, in its home opener Tuesday night.

The Highlanders lost 25-12, 25-14, 25-15 to the Lions, who are one of the top teams in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. Houghton will join the AMCC in 2025.

Tonight, the Highlanders show flashes of strong play and produced some energetic rallies fueled by the home crowd, but they couldn't overcome the power and efficient attack of the Lions. Behrend finished with a hitting percentage of .377 with just eight errors on 77 attacks. Defensively, the Lions tallied 17 total blocks.

Houghton was led by Elijah Studt, who produced six kills and a hitting percentage of .235. Elijah Sproull chipped in with five kills, while adding six digs and a team-high eight assists. Gabriel Lucena had a team-high 10 digs, while Devin Tullar added three kills and three digs.

"The team took a while to get going tonight. By the third set we began to go all out and played to win which resulted in big plays defensively and offensively - and those big moments show the amazing potential of this team," said Head Coach Lindsay Seddon. "We need to work on being more consistent with those. Now onward and upward to prepare for the NCCAA invitational at Roberts this weekend." 

The Highlanders are next in action at the NCCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational Tournament this weekend. They will play Redeemer University on Friday at noon, followed by a matchup with Roberts Wesleyan at 2:30 p.m.