STEVENSON, Md. – Juniata College men's volleyball ran into a Medaille College squad that simply had more attacks and converted more of them, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Mavericks in the ECAC South Region Tournament championship match on Saturday afternoon at the Stevenson University Student Union Gym.
Set scores for Medaille were 25-18, 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, and 15-13.
Juniata advanced to the championship match after defeating Elmira College, 3-0, in the semifinals. Set scores for the Eagles were 25-18, 25-21, 25-22.
Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York) had 15 kills on 37 swings for Juniata, which finished its season with a 28-11 record. However Kuhn also committed 12 attack errors, producing a .081 hitting percentage for the match. He also served up three aces and logged four block assists for a team high 20.0 points.
Paul Ejups (Bay Shore, N.Y./West Islip) tallied nine kills with a .318 hitting percentage, and both Cameron Andrew (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) and Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) had seven terminations.
Kyle Rodgers (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) had six kills, and paced Juniata at the net with six block assists.
Setter Rob Strauss (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) recorded 41 assists for the match, as the Eagles hit .144 against the Mavericks – Juniata's worst hitting percentage since a 3-0 loss to UC-Santa Cruz back on January 14. The Eagles' 47 kills versus Medaille matched its mark for the fewest in a five-set match this season.
Justin Waldorf (Eden, N.Y./Eden) turned up seven digs for Juniata, while Eric McCarthy (Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) sprawled for six.
Medaille (25-9) hit .265 in the title match, led by Nick Johnson's 24 kills on a .474 hitting percentage. Erin Kelly logged 17 kills for the Mavericks, with Jordan James leading Medaille at the net with five total blocks.
The Mavericks finished with 64 kills, and outpaced the Eagles defensively with 37 digs to Juniata's 33.
In the semifinal match, Juniata was paced offensively by Andrew with 14 kills on 25 swings with a .440 hitting percentage, to go with three service aces. Kuhn chipped in with 12 kills on 22 attacks, while Mark Feiler (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) logged nine terminations. Kuhn also had a block solo and a block assist, finishing with 14.5 points.
The Eagles recorded just 6.0 total blocks, with Rodgers having a hand on three blocks.
Strauss ran the Juniata offense, totaling 37 assists as the Eagles hit .357 for the match. Kuhn led the Eagles defensively with eight digs.
Elmira (22-18) was held to a .247 hitting percentage, led by Wyatt Hamilton with 13 kills on 29 total attacks. Ryan Nerney charted seven kills on a .500 hitting percentage for the Soaring Eagles.
-30-
