STORY COURTESY OF JUNIATA COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
The Juniata men's volleyball team advanced to the Continental Volleyball Conference Championship Match with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-0) win over Rutgers-Newark Friday evening.
Tyler Phillips (Long Island, N.Y. / Walt Whitman HS) had a match-high 10 kills (.231) with three aces, four digs, and three block assists. Juan Armando (San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic / Liceo Gastón Fernando Deligne) tallied eight kills (.227) with an assist, an ace, four digs, and a solo block, while Chris Mellor (Easton, Pa. / Easton Area HS) was efficient with his seven kills (.778) and four block assists. Luke Hoffman (Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township HS) added four kills, an assist, an ace, two digs, and four block assists. Grant Lorelli (Lancaster, Pa. / Hempfield HS) had 15 assists, five blocks, and a dig, while Will Sierer (Hummelstown, Pa. / Lower Dauphin HS) contributed 12 assists and three digs.
The Eagles trailed for most of the first set, tying it at 16, but the Scarlet Raiders eked ahead, 17-19. Two errors from Rutgers-Newark, a block by Mellor and Lorelli, a Hoffman ace, and another from the Mellor and Lorelli tandem made it 22-19. Rutgers-Newark fought their way back within one, prior to a Phillips kill, and another attack error from the Scarlet Raiders pushed Juniata to set point. Dueling service errors ended set one 25-22.
Set two saw both teams struggle offensively, as Juniata hit .083 and Rutgers-Newark hit 0.0. The Eagles grinded out a 7-2 run to build a 21-15 late, but the Scarlet Raiders battled back within one, 23-22. Juniata reached set point on a service error and took set two on a block by Armando and Hoffman.
Juniata jumped out ahead 11-5 early and used a 3-0 surge late to push their lead back to five at 20-15. The teams traded points the rest of the match, as Armando ended things with a kill, 25-20.
Juniata will face a familiar foe in the championship match tomorrow as they take on the top seed and #2 in the country, Southern Virginia, at 3:00. This will be the teams' fourth meeting in the CVC championship and fifth meeting in the CVC postseason overall.