GREENVILLE, Pa. – The No. 8 Juniata College men's volleyball team swept No. 3 UC Santa Cruz 3-0 (27-25, 25-22, 25-22) Saturday evening to earn its first Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) championship. The Eagles (24-11) hit over .400 as a team and earned nine team blocks in the sweep. Freshman Matt Elias (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) was named the tournament most valuable player.
Junior Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) and sophomore Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) joined Elias on the all-tournament team.
Santa Cruz (15-7) won the tournament last year after defeating the Eagles 3-2 in the semifinals. Juniata is now 1-2 all-time against the Banana Slugs.
The Eagles have qualified for eight national tournaments and won six titles in their programs history, but this is their first NCAA tournament berth. The selection show will air on Sunday, April 14 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.com.
Game One
The Banana Slugs led by as many as six points (18-12) when Juniata began to rally off back-to-back kills by McColgin. Juniata pulled within two (19-17) off an ace down the line by sophomore Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford). Down 24-21, the Eagles survived three game points to tie it up 24-24. Kuhn aced the libero on the next serve and put Juniata up 25-24.
A kill by middle Jorges Reyes tied the match up at 25-all, but a quick hit in the middle by Bortak gave Juniata the lead again, 26-25. Madden floated a short serve just over the net that landed in front of the Banana Slug defense, giving Juniata the 27-25 win.
Game Two
The game went back and forth with both teams trading sideouts through a 5-5 tie when Juniata went on a 5-0 spree to take a 10-5 lead. Santa Cruz had managed to pulled within two (19-17), when a deep cross-court shot by sophomore Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York) sparked two more Eagle points. Juniata was up 21-17 when the teams began trading points again. Santa Cruz worked back to a two-point differential (22-20), but Juniata held on for the 25-22 win.
Game Three
Neither team could pull further than two points away until Juniata took a 14-11 lead on a kill by Bortak. Santa Cruz responded with a kill of their own, but followed it up with a service error, putting the Eagles up 15-12. Freshman Chad Albert (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) slammed down an overpass to put Juniata up 18-14. And a Banana Slug hitting error gave Juniata the 19-14 lead and caused Santa Cruz coach Todd Hollenbeck to call timeout. The Eagles would lead by as many as six points down the stretch. Juniata made it match point (24-18) but Santa Cruz did not give up. They scored four straight points before Madden got the kill to end the match and send the Eagles further into the postseason.
The NCAA Division III men's volleyball championships will be held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. The first round takes place on April 20 at campus sites. The final three rounds are at MIT April 24-27.
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