By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones

GREENVILLE, Pa. – No. 2 Juniata College men's volleyball team picked up its third Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) win of the season at Thiel College Wednesday night.  Juniata (14-2) defeated the Tomcats 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23) and now sits 3-0 in CVC play.

"I think the guys made some good adjustments," said head Kevin Moore. "[Thiel] had a game plan to serve us short.  We used our middles a little bit differently."

The Eagles were led by junior Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York).  He finished with a match-high 16 kills and only one error.  Two other Eagles earned double-digit kills.  Junior Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) and sophomore Chad Albert (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) picked up 12 and 10 kills, respectively.

"I think Paul did a really good job," added Moore.  "He did a really good job of taking care of their setter and allowing our block to get set up.  He just forced the other team to make the point."

Sophomore Carlos Faccio (Guaynabo, P.R./San Ignacio) ran the Eagles offense, collecting a match and career-high 46 assists.  He and McColgin earned double-doubles on the night with 10 and 11 digs, respectively. 

Down 24-23 in the second set, McColgin served three straight points to help the Eagles to the 2-0 lead in the match.

"He went back and it was his three serves that really changed the tide in that second set," said Moore of McColgin.  "From an offensive standpoint, he did a really good job of moving the ball around."

Juniata remains on the road for its next match.  The Eagles head to No. 7 Stevens Tech on Friday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.  This is their first time facing the Ducks this season.  Juniata leads the all-time series 13-2 having won three straight over Stevens.  And they are 5-0 this season when facing ranked opponents.

"Hopefully this was an opportunity for us to get battle tested with some different guys in the lineup," said Moore.  "With only one day in-between those three matches, we won't have a whole lot of time in practice.  Hopefully they can use tonight's game to get some sort of rhythm.  We'll need to be efficient this weekend.  Hopefully the hitters have established a really good connection with the setters and carry that over to the weekend.  The team's we're playing will be good offensively and defensively."

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