Men's Volleyball Wins Eighth Straight with Wins Over Arcadia & Wilkes

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The #12 Juniata men's volleyball team picked up a pair of victories as they defeated Arcadia 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 24-26, 25-18) before they knocked aside host Wilkes 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-16), Saturday inside the Marts Center. 

Kevin Duffy III (Carlisle, Pa. / Carlisle HS) totaled 15 kills while hitting .737 with a solo block and three block assists while Tyler Goldsborough (Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township HS) had a match-high 16 kills to go with two service aces, seven digs and a block assist. Luke Hoffman (Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township HS) amassed ten kills while hitting .562 to go with two aces, three digs, and two block assists. Reese Ganter (Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township HS) had 47 assists while helping the offense hit .387 in the match and added five digs.  

In the opening set against Arcadia, the Eagles hit .483 in the set, which was a match-high and needed every bit of it as the Knights nipped at their heels most of the way. With the score at 22-20, Hoffman and Max Cooley (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park HS) put down back-to-back kills before Drew Hunker (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny HS) ended it with a kill of his own. 

In set two, an early 6-1 burst from the host's had the Eagles in a 4-6 hole. From that point, Juniata unleashed a 21-8 onslaught that saw them cruise to a 25-14 win. 

Arcadia narrowly took the third set, 24-26, to keep the match going. 

In the fourth, with the teams locked at 7-7, JC used a 6-0 rally to get some breathing room. Goldsborough tallied two kills during the run while Hoffman chipped in with one along with three Knight errors. Arcadia got within three at 16-13 before Kevin Duffy tallied a kill, and Arcadia committed another string of errors to make it 21-13. The Eagles won the match on a Hunker kill, 25-18. 

In the sweep of Wilkes, Will Phelan (Saegertown, Pa. / Saegertown HS) had a match-high 14 kills while hitting .722 to go with six digs and two block assists. Campbell Gerdeman (Carlsbad, Calif. / Sage Creek HS) had nine kills while hitting .412 to go with three digs and two block assists. Hoffman had four kills and five aces to go with a block assist while Ganter had 32 assists, two aces and five digs as the offense hit .463 in the match. Joseph Chambers (West Hempstead, N.Y. / West Hempstead HS) added three kills (.500%) along with a solo block and five block assists. 

Juniata is off until Friday when they will travel to take on conference rival Southern Virginia at 7:00.