By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: JD Cavrich Photography
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – No. 3 Juniata College men's volleyball extended its win streak to three after starting its two-day tri-match with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-19) win over No. 14 Elmira College Friday night in the Kennedy Sports+Recreation Center. Juniata (3-0) dominated at the net, out-blocking Elmira 11.5-5 and hitting .313 as a team. Elmira fell to 0-1 with the loss.
"Guys played well," said head coach Kevin Moore. "We knew Elmira would be a good test out the gate here at home. They've taken us to five the last two times we've played them. And they came out with a quick tempo offense that put some pressure on us when they were in system. Fortunately, our servers were really able to get after it from the service line."
Three Eagles earned match-highs. At the net, senior Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) finished with a match and season-high 12 kills and sophomore Chad Albert (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) earned a match-high six blocks, one off from his career-high. This is the second consecutive match that Albert earned the match-high in blocks. He currently leads the team with 13 total blocks this season.
"That's Chad's strength," said Moore. "He's improved his offensive game, but defensively, throughout the fall and all this season, he's really proven to be a force at the net."
Fellow sophomore Matt Elias (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) ran the offense and earned a match-high 32 assists. He was able to spread the ball around evenly to the attackers so each front man had double-digit swings. This was his second 30+ assist performance.
"Matt ran a pretty balanced offense tonight," said Moore. "We're okay with Alex being our outlet guy. But when we're in system, we want to make teams worry about all of our attackers. Matt did a really good job of when we're in system to free up our hitters. "
Juniata returns to action Saturday morning. The Eagles take on Hunter College at 10 a.m. and then No. 13 Kean University at 5:30 p.m.
Follow Your Eagles! Stay up-to-date on your Juniata College Eagles by logging onto www.juniatasports.net. And don't forget to follow us on twitter (@JuniataEagles) and on Facebook (Juniata Eagles).
