HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata men's volleyball team upset No. 1 Springfield College 3-2 (24-26, 25-20, 22-25, 28-26, 24-22) Friday night at the Juniata Invitational in its second five-game match of the night. The sixth ranked Eagles had match point eight times before finally putting it away. Juniata (9-3) also went to five with No. 12 Medaille before defeating the Mavericks 3-2 (27-25, 19-25, 27-29, 25-21, 15-7) earlier in the invitational.
"I'm proud of how the guys fought," said Juniata head coach Kevin Moore. "I know that we hear too often that people left it on the court, but the guys without a doubt did. It was a collective group effort. Everyone played their role and everyone had a piece in this win. That includes the guys in practice that keep pushing us to get better and better."
The upset avenged a 3-0 loss the Eagles suffered to Springfield earlier this year. Juniata is now 4-2 against ranked opponents and 3-1 in five-game matches. Both matches tonight went over two hours. The win over Springfield took nearly three.
Sophomore Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) earned his first career double-double. He recorded a match and career-high 27 kills with only four errors while picking up a career-best 11 digs. McColgin hit .489 and accounted for a match-best 29.5 points. Senior Rob Strauss (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) also earned a double-double. He finished with a career-high 55 assists and a team and career-high 12 digs.
"You can look at the stats and you are going to see Alex McColgin with 27 kills, but what I thought was a huge key for us was the defensive effort," said Moore. "Alex had double-digit digs. Rob Strauss had double-digit digs. And our block was really effective."
Junior Paul Ejups (Bay Shore, N.Y./West Islips) was a consistent presence at the net along with sophomore Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford). The pair combined for over half of the team's block. Bortak earned a career-best eight blocks.
Juniata vs. Medaille
Three Eagles finished in double-digit kills in the win over Medaille. Junior Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) and Bortak led the effort with 15 kills each. Sophomore Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York) finished with 10, respectively.
Ejups had his most solid defensive effort of the night against Medaille, picking up a career-high 10 blocks, nine were assisted. Also setting a career-high at the net was McColgin. He picked six blocks, five assisted. Juniata earned a season-best 16.5 blocks in the win.
The Eagles return to action Saturday, Feb. 16 to face No. 9 New Paltz State at 1 p.m.
"It's already Saturday morning and we've got to turn around and play a real good New Paltz team," Moore noted. "They're a top ten team that's having a great season. They're going to challenge us well."
Juniata is 4-0 all-time against the Hawks. Their match against New Paltz will be followed by a match against Penn State Altoona at 3 p.m. to close play at the invitational.
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