The Misericordia University men's volleyball team picked up its first win of the season in a split at Alvernia, Saturday.

The Cougars dropped the opener, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21), but rallied to win the nightcap, 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23).

In the opener, Anthony DePalma led the Cougars with 12 kills while Brian Ross added seven and Matt Lavin had five.

Dylan Sellitti had 24 assists and Conner Westerfield had eight digs.

In the nightcap, DePalma had a team-high 14 kills and 13 digs while Austin Cervasio and Billy Murphy added 11 and 10, respectively.  Cervasio and Murphy both had three blocks while Murphy added two aces.

Sellitti had 46 assists, 10 digs and two aces.

Conner Westerfield had 12 digs.

In the first match, Alvernia closed the first set on a 5-0 run.

In the second set, MU led 9-8, but Alvernia used a 7-2 run to take an 18-12 lead.

Alvernia closed the third set with four of the last five points.

In the nightcap, MU built a 14-8 lead in the first set thanks to a kill by Cervasio and back-to-back aces by Brian Ross.

Alvernia pulled to within 20-18, but the Cougars scored five straight point on kills from DePalma and Cervasio and three Alvernia errors.

The Cougars never trailed in the second set and used a 5-2 run to clinch the win thanks to kills by Cervasio, DePalma and Lavin.

Misericordia appeared headed for the sweep as they built a 13-8 lead in the third set, but Alvernia scored eight straight points on the way to a come-from-behind win.

The Cougars fell behind 1-0 in the finale, but Murphy had three kills as MU took a 9-4 and led the rest of the way.

Misericordia will host Messiah in their home opener, Wednesday.