Eagles Take Out Scarlet Raiders in Five Sets

HUNTINGDON, PA- Juniata had a 2-0 lead only to see Rutgers-Newark come back to tie the match but the Eagles recovered in the final set to claim a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night at Memorial Gymnasium. The victory improves JC's record to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the CVC while the Scarlett Raiders fall to 10-6 overall and 5-1 in the CVC.

Four Eagles recorded double digits in kills. Paul Kuhn (York, PA/Central York) had a season-high 21 kills and added six digs. Joe Bortak (Jeanette, PA/Penn Trafford) tallied 20 kills. Justin Waldorf (Eden, NY/Eden) and Kyle Seeley (Ellicott City, MD/Howard) chipped in 11 kills. Matt Elias (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) had a career-high 60 assists. Tommy Keisling (Sewickley, PA/North Allegheny) led the defense with 13 digs. Chad Albert (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) picked up six block assists.

Rutgers-Newark led 6-3 in the first set before the Eagles tied it up at 7-all. The Scarlet Raiders regained the lead briefly before the Eagles tied and then went ahead. Juniata led by a slim 23-22 margin but got the last two points on errors by Rutgers-Newark to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Eagles went ahead 4-0 in the second frame and eventually led 7-3. The advantage grew to as much as 17-9. Rutgers-Newark could only get as close as four points, 18-14, but JC closed out the set with a 7-4 run to go up 2-0.

The Scarlet Raiders led for most of the third frame. Juniata tied it a 19-all and only trailed 23-22 but Rutgers-Newark got two kills at the end to make it a 2-1 contest.

In the fourth set, Rutgers-Newark led by as much as 12-6. Juniata slowly chipped away at the deficit and was able to tie everything up three times with the final occurrence coming at 25-25. A service error on Waldorf and an attack error on Kuhn gave the Scarlet Raiders the two points they needed for the win and knot the match at 2-2.

Needing to take the final set to get the win, the Eagles stepped up big. Juniata broke a 2-2 tie and led 5-2. After Rutgers-Newark made it a 6-4 game, the Eagles broke away and went ahead 9-4. In the end, the Eagles were able to edge out the Scarlet Raiders with a 6-5 run to walk away with the victory.

Juniata will travel to Harrisonburg, VA to take on Eastern Mennonite in CVC action on Friday night. Match time will at 7 p.m.