GREENVILLE, Pa. – After dropping the first game 29-27, No. 8 Juniata College men's volleyball team upset No. 4 Carthage 3-1 (27-29, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19) to advance the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) championship match at 5 p.m. They will face UC Santa Cruz for the first time this season
Freshman Matt Elias (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) crushed his previous career-high by recording 60 assists in the win. Four Eagles finished with double-digit kills. Junior Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) led with a match-high 20 kills. Sophomores Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) and Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) finished with 13 and 14 kills, respectively. And freshman Chad Albert (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) had a career-high 10 kills in the match. Both Bortak and Albert record just a single attack error and hit over .600 during the match.
Tightly contested in each game, both teams battled for every point they earned and left it all on the court.
Juniata jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game four. When Carthage took a 15-14 lead, Juniata head coach Kevin Moore called timeout to refocus the troops. Bortak came out of the break swinging hard and gave the Eagles a necessary sideout to start a three point rally that retook the lead, 17-15. The teams traded sideouts. With the score 19-17, Bortak pushed a shot into the deep back corner that was shanked by the middle back. The point ignited the bench and forced Carthage coach L.J. Marx to call timeout with Juniata ahead 20-17.
With the score 22-19, McColgin served the final three points to help lead the Eagles to the 25-19 win and the championship berth.
Championship Preview
After another 20+ win regular season, Juniata College men's volleyball will face UC Santa Cruz in the CVC Championship match Saturday, April 13 at 5 p.m. The Eagles went 6-2 in league play to earn the No. 1 seed in the East Division and a first round bye. They defeated Carthage (3-1) to earn their first title shot.
Head coach Kevin Moore has made history since taking the helm. For the first time in program history, Juniata has had back-to-back 20 win seasons and is appearing in its first CVC championship match. The Eagles have gone 21-2 in conference play during his tenure. As a team, they are ranked among the conference leaders in hitting percentage, service aces and block assists. Juniata has played 11 ranked teams and faced four NCAA Division I opponents this year.
"Scheduling the most rigorous and challenging schedule possible has been the program's mindset for over 20 years," said Moore. "You need to compete against the best."
The Eagles are led by All-East Division outside hitter Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York). The sophomore leads the team in kills, attack percentage and is tied for the lead in service aces against conference opponents. Kuhn has also spent time on the right side this season, but sophomore Alex McColgin has dug in and made himself known on the outside.
McColgin suffered a season-ending injury in the first match of last year and has come back strong in his second year on the court for the Eagles. The 5-10 attacker is ranked nationally in hitting percentage, kills per set and points per set.
Stepping up in a big way to facilitate the offense has been freshman Matt Elias. He moved into the role of primary setter of the 6-1 offense during conference play and has been stellar for Moore. Elias is currently ranked 29th nationally in assists per set and is 4th in the league against conference opponents.
Juniata is 0-2 all-time against the Banana Slugs after losing 3-2 in the CVC semifinals to them last year. UC Santa Cruz went on to defeat Carthage for the conference title. They come into the match with 15-6 overall record this season. They defeated Stevenson University (3-2) in the semis to advance.
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