Men’s volleyball closes out three-match marathon day with 3-2 loss at Princeton

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Juniata College men's volleyball team capped a three-matches-across-two-states day with a 3-2 loss to Princeton University, Saturday night at Dillon Gym.

Set scores for Princeton were 23-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-23, and 15-11.

The match capped a marathon day for Juniata men's volleyball. The Eagles (22-9) began the day by defeating Baruch College, 3-1, and Kean University, 3-0, to close out play in the Springfield College Invitational in Springfield, Mass.

Juniata downed Baruch by set scores of 25-16, 23-25, 25-23, and 25-18, while dispatching Kean in three by scores of 25-21, 25-17, and 25-22.

Against the Division I Princeton Tigers, Juniata was led by senior pin hitter Brian Jaron (Severna Park, Md./Mount St. Joseph) with 23 kills on 46 swings with a .283 hitting percentage, who also served up a pair of aces to finish with 25.0 points.

Outside hitter Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) logged 19 kills behind a .174 hitting percentage with four total blocks, while middle Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) put away 17 terminations on 28 swings and a .464 attack clip to go with his four blocks.

Senior John Almquist (York, Pa./Central York) led Juniata to a .255 hitting percentage, recording 55 assists along the way. Fellow senior Mike Kraft (York, Pa./Eastern York) sprawled for 17 digs, while Madden turned up eight. Juniata out-hustled Princeton on the defensive end of the floor, producing 43 digs to the Tigers' 39.

However Princeton (7-7) controlled play at the net with 17.0 total team blocks, while Juniata tallied just 9.0 at the end of the night.  Tiger middle Will Siroky finished with 11 total blocks, while outside hitter Cody Kessel recorded six.

Kessel was responsible for the lion's share of the Tigers' points, finishing with 31 kills. Middle Michael Dye was the only other Princeton player with a double-digit kill total with his tally of 11 terminations. 

Juniata will return to the court on Wednesday, March 28, when it faces Thiel College in a CVC East match. The Eagles will then host their CVC East Division rivals for a weekend of round-robin play on Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31.

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