HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata men's volleyball rebounded from a tough loss Friday night by going undefeated at home (2-0) in a tri-match with No. 6 Stevens Tech and Hilbert College. The Eagles defeated Hilbert 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-15) before topping Stevens 3-1 (25-23, 27-29, 33-31, 25-19). Juniata is now 14-6 overall, 6-3 against ranked opponents.
"It was good to see the guys bounce back after last night's tough match," said head coach Kevin Moore. "The guys played well. We had a lot of contribution from a lot of different guys."
The Eagles were led by sophomore Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) and freshman Matthew Kinnebrew (Ashburn, Va./Stonebridge). Each finished with 17 kills and eight blocks, respectively. Bortak hit .654 in the two matches after committing zero errors on 26 swings. Kinnebrew earned a team-best three solo blocks.
"Matt is a first year guy that has really come along," said Moore of the freshman's performance. "For a guy who has only been with us since January, he's certainly carving out a nice niche for himself."
Senior Rob Strauss (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) and freshman Matt Elias (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) split setting duties. The pair combined for 82 assists on the day.
Juniata vs. Hilbert
Juniata consistently hit over .400 as a team in the win over Hilbert. Sophomore Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York) finished with a team-high seven kills on just nine swings for a .778 percentage. Freshman libero Brendan Smith (Fuquay-Varina, N.C./Fuquay-Varina) nearly outdug the entire Hilbert squad. He finished with a match-high 12 digs to the Hawks 15. And fellow freshman Derrick Burgess (Webster, N.Y./Webster) recorded a match-high five blocks.
Juniata vs. No. 6 Stevens Tech
Three Eagles finished with double figures in kills. Bortak and Kinnebrew tied with a team-high 13 while junior Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) earned 10 of his own. Burgess put down a career-best eight kills in the win. Defensively, Bortak racked up six blocks and Smith added a match-high 14 digs to his total for the day. Bortak also had a career-best two aces in the win.
Juniata will heads into its shortest turnaround of the season. They take on Thiel College this Wednesday, March 6 at 7 p.m. before heading to their second Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) weekend March 8-9 at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU).
"I'm hoping we can continue to trend up from this weekend," said Moore. "We've shown the ability to play well against high level competition, especially at home. I'm curious to see if we can put together a midweek performance like we've had today and we've had against Springfield. But then continue that into the weekend of conference play at EMU."
The Eagles are 1-0 against Thiel this season after beating them on the road 3-1 back on Feb. 9. They will see No. 11 Stevenson, EMU and Cairn at the CVC weekend. Juniata is 1-0 against Stevenson, but has not seen EMU or Cairn yet this year.
Senior Day
It was senior day for Juniata and they recognized the careers of Strauss and fellow senior Cameron Andrew (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) during the Stevens Tech match.
"They define the word team and teammate," Moore said of the senior class. "They put the success of the team, the accomplishments of the team above their own individual accolades, awards, statistics or playing time. And as seniors they have continued to do that in whatever capacity, whatever role they've been called upon to contribute."
Strauss, a 6-2 setter, has played in all but one match this season. He averages nearly 6.5 assists per game for his career and has 78 digs this season, a career best. He recorded single-match bests of 55 assists and 12 digs in the Eagles upset of No. 1 Springfield.
Andrew, a 6-2 outside hitter, has played in over 250 games over the course of his career at Juniata. He has appeared in 17 of the 20 matches this season. This year, Andrew hit a career-high .571 against Penn State Altoona back on Feb. 16.
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