Juniata College avenged a regular season loss to Stevenson University last week with a 3-0 sweep of the Mustangs in the 2014 Continental Volleyball Conference Championship match. Juniata proved to be too much this weekend, winning both their semi-finals match and championship match by way of sweeps.
Against Stevenson the Eagles took control of the match early with a stout defense at the net. On just the third point of the match the Eagles defense showed it would play a role in today’s match as Joe Bortak rejected a Stevenson attack for a solo block. Moments later, with the match tied at 3-3, Juniata used back to back blocks to jump start a 5-1 run. Alex McColgin and Chad Albert gave Juniata the lead and teamed up with Ross Madden on the next point as the Eagles would not trail again in the set.
Spurred by 4.5 team blocks in the opening set Juniata went on to a 25-15 win, hitting .500 as a team with 12 kills and just three errors. The second set featured more of an offensive attack for the Eagles, finishing with a match high 14 kills in the set. Alex McColgin and Chad Albert each had four kills apiece on just 13 combined swings.
Stevenson had their chance early in the second set. A kill by Jon Martin closed the score to 8-7 and gave the Mustangs the serve however an attack error promptly gave Juniata the ball back. From there the Eagles went on a 5-2 run with three straight kills during the stretch. Juniata could never get closer than three points for the remainder of the set as Juniata notched a 25-18 win.
The Third set was similar to the first as Juniata’s net defense was dominant, recording six team blocks. Alex McCoglin got the block party started with a solo block on the set’s first point and teamed up with Joe Bortak on another block to give Juniata a quick 2-0 lead. The Eagles would not trail in the set and opened up a fast 12-4 lead after a 9-2 run. Fittingly the final set ended on a block, a solo from Bortak, that gave Juniata a 25-11 win and securing their second consecutive CVC Championship.
Juniata finished the match with 12.5 team blocks, hitting .324 as a team with 35 kills on 74 attempts. Stevenson finished with 23 kills and 27 errors, thanks in large part to the Eagles defense at the net. Paul Kuhn and Chad Albert led Juniata with eight kills while Matt Elias finished with 29 assists and four digs. Alex McColgin chipped in with six kills, seven digs and seven total bocks. Stevenson was led by Jon Martin’s eight kills and 10 digs while David Moler added 23 assists.
Juniata, ranked #3 in the latest AVCA national poll, improves to 27-4 overall this season and earns an automatic bid into the 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship. The announcement of the tournament field will be on Monday, April 14th. Check ncaa.com for more information.
The 2014 CVC All-Tournament team includes tournament MVP Matt Elias, from Juniata College as well as teammates Chad Albert and Alex McColgin. In addition from Stevenson University David Moler and Jon Martin; from Carthage College J.P. Tulaka and from Lakeland College Tyler Boyce.