Eagles Soar Past Yellow Jackets

ASHLAND, Va.- The #3 ranked Juniata men's volleyball team picked up another Continental Volleyball Conference win on the road as they played spoiler at Randolph Macon's Senior Day with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19) win Saturday afternoon at Crenshaw Gymnasium. 

The teams were even early, with the Yellow Jackets pulling even at 7-7 following back-to-back kills. Three errors and a Luke Hoffman kill put JC back up by four. RMC called timeout, but the Eagles got another Hoffman kill, a block by Max Cooley, and an ace from Tyler Goldsborough to lead 14-7. The hosts managed two several times, with the last time after Kevin Duffy III and Maxwell Barr gave the Eagles set point at 24-22, and Goldsborough ended set one with a kill, 25-22. 

The Yellow Jackets narrowly took set two with a .280 hitting percentage while Juniata hit negative at -.045. That didn't prevent Juniata from nearly winning the set, however, as they never trailed by more than five and pulled even at 23-23. The Yellow Jackets utilized two kills to take set two, 23-25. 

Set three was another battle, with the Yellow Jackets having a better hitting percentage again at .139 to .091, but this time the Eagles managed to eke out a win anyway. Juniata led by as many as five at 15-10, but the Yellow Jackets hung around and tied it for the last time at 22-22. Two errors gave Juniata set point, but an attack error brought Randolph Macon back within one, 24-23. Juniata called timeout, and it was a good one as RMC served the ball into the net to end set three in favor of the Eagles, 25-23. 

The Eagles had their strongest offensive showing in the fourth set as they hit .368 to RMC's .143. They scored nine of the final 14 points in the set to take the set and the match, 25-19. 

Goldsborough had a team-high 14 kills to go with an assist, three aces, nine digs, a solo block, and two block assists. Duffy totaled ten kills while hitting .450 to go with six block assists. His second block moved him third in program history, as he overtook Kenny Eiser '04, who had 367 blocks in his career. Hoffman tallied eight kills while hitting .438 to go with two aces, two digs, a solo block, and two block assists. 

The Eagles will host CVC foe Elizabethtown Wednesday at 7:00.