Eagles Halt Chargers on Senior Night
HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The #14 Juniata men's volleyball team swept aside visiting Lancaster Bible, 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-17), Friday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium on senior night.
The Eagles never trailed in set one, maintaining a narrow lead at 13-10 after two straight from the Chargers. A kill from Kevin Duffy III (Carlisle, Pa. / Carlisle HS) and Campbell Gerdeman (Carlsbad, Calif. / Sage Creek HS) each, along with two errors from the visitors, pushed the lead to seven. Juniata cruised the rest of the way, with Luke Hoffman (Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township HS) ending the set with a kill, 25-16.
Set two was close throughout, although again, the Eagles never trailed, the Chargers managed to hang around. Neither team hit well in the set, with Lancaster Bible hitting .167 while the Eagles hit for a match-low .280. With the score at 22-20, a kill from Will Phelan (Saegertown, Pa. / Saegertown HS) and two errors ended set two in favor of JC.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Chargers take their only of the match, JC eked ahead and held a two-point lead midway through at 17-15. The Eagle mounted a 6-0 run from there with a kill from Tyler Goldsborough (Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township HS), a block by Gerdeman and Hoffman followed by a block by all three of the previously mentioned Eagles forced an LC timeout. The Chargers committed two errors on the other side of the break, and Goldsborough punctuated the rally with a kill to make it 23-15. The Eagles would take match point on a service error.
The win is the program's first win over Lancaster Bible since 2013 and puts them back ahead in the all-time series, 3-2.
Juniata will return to the floor of Memorial Gymnasium for a pair of CVC matches tomorrow. They will play Immaculata at 1:00 before their 5:00 showdown with #12 Marymount.
