No. 2 Juniata Falls to No. 1 SUNY New Paltz in Showdown
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – No. 2 Juniata College men’s volleyball dropped only its third match of the season to No. 1 SUNY New Paltz Saturday afternoon at Vassar College. The Eagles fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) and move to 15-3 on the season. New Paltz improved to 14-2 overall with the win.
By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – No. 2 Juniata College men's volleyball dropped only its third match of the season to No. 1 SUNY New Paltz Saturday afternoon at Vassar College. The Eagles fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) and move to 15-3 on the season. New Paltz improved to 14-2 overall with the win.
Junior Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) led with a match-high 13 kills and sophomore Matt Elias (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) had a match-high 24 assists.
Down 11-9 in set two, senior Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) sided-out on a kill from Elias. McColgin then drilled the ball into the middle of the court after a Hawk attack error to give Juniata the 12-11 lead. The teams traded points until New Paltz regained the lead. They were up by five when the Eagles started a comeback. McColgin ended a Hawk run with a kill and freshman Kameron Beans (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) went back and served two straight aces to pull the Eagles within two (22-20) and force a Hawk timeout. After trading the next two points, New Paltz ended the set on back-to-back kills.
The Eagles continued to battle in set three despite being down early. With Beans serving, back-to-back kills from McColgin tied the set at 10-all and New Paltz called timeout. The break worked as they earned the side-out and took four of the next five points to go ahead 14-11. But the Eagles continued to fight and tied it up (14-14) on a block by junior Justin Waldorf (Eden, N.Y./Eden) and freshman Kyle Seeley (Ellicott City, Md./Howard). New Paltz pushed its lead back up to as many as four points and held on for the win.
Juniata returns to action tonight, Saturday, March 1 at 5 p.m. against host Vassar.
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