HUNTINGDON, PA- The Juniata men's volleyball team hosted its final two matches of the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium. The Eagles had no trouble with EMU as they won 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-14) in the first match of the day.
The Eagles received plenty of contributions from its seniors. Joe Bortak (Jeanette, PA/Penn Trafford) led the offense with 14 kills. Paul Kuhn (York, PA/Central York) added nine kills. Junior Matt Elias (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) picked up 31 assists.
Defensively, Bortak and Justin Waldorf (Eden, NY/Eden) led the way with five digs. Bortak had six block assists and in the process became the program leader in blocks. Jim Keuper (Brookfield, WI/Brookfield Central) picked up five block assists and Mark Feiler (Mountville, PA/Hempfield) added four. He also had four service aces.
Juniata easily controlled the first set to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The second set saw the Eagles go ahead 14-9 but the Royals came back to narrow the deficit to one point, 18-17. JC then went on an 8-2 run that ended with Paul Kuhn's kill to win the frame and go ahead 2-0 in the match.
In the third set, Juniata led 9-4 and then broke off a 6-0 run to go up 15-4. It was all Eagles the rest of the way as they claimed the game and the match.
Juniata defeated Hilbert in its second match of the day 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-14). Prior to that match, the team recognized seniors Kuhn, Feiler, Waldorf, and Bortak along with student manager Greg Williams.
Kuhn picked up 11 kills while Bortak chipped in eight kills. Elias tallied 20 assists while Ryan Shelton (Baldwinsville, NY/Baldwinsville) tallied 13 assists. Chris Heron (Las Vegas, NV/Arbor View) led the defensive effort with seven digs.
Juniata had a sizable 11-4 lead in the first set that grew to 20-11. The Eagles outscored the Hawks 5-3 down the stretch to come away with the win and lead 1-0.
The second set saw the Eagles lead 7-6 but they broke away with six points to go ahead 13-6. Hilbert was able to close the deficit to five points several times with the final occurrence at 18-13. JC put up a 7-3 run in the end to win the set.
JC put up the first four points of the third set to lead 4-0. A 9-3 lead grew to 14-6. Juniata was ahead 16-10 and pulled away with a 5-0 run to go up 21-10. With the score at 23-14 in the Eagles' favor, a service error on Hilbert followed by a kill from Avery Speiss (York Haven, PA/Red Land) clinched the victory for Juniata.
Juniata finishes the season with a final record of 24-5 and 10-1 in the CVC. It is the fourth straight season the Eagles have won 20+ contests.