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

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – No. 2 Juniata College men's volleyball dropped only its third match of the season to No. 1 SUNY New Paltz Saturday afternoon at Vassar College.  The Eagles fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) and move to 15-3 on the season.  New Paltz improved to 14-2 overall with the win.

Junior Alex McColgin (Buffalo, N.Y./Hamburg) led with a match-high 13 kills and sophomore Matt Elias (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) had a match-high 24 assists.

Down 11-9 in set two, senior Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) sided-out on a kill from Elias.  McColgin then drilled the ball into the middle of the court after a Hawk attack error to give Juniata the 12-11 lead. The teams traded points until New Paltz regained the lead.  They were up by five when the Eagles started a comeback.  McColgin ended a Hawk run with a kill and freshman Kameron Beans (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) went back and served two straight aces to pull the Eagles within two (22-20) and force a Hawk timeout.  After trading the next two points, New Paltz ended the set on back-to-back kills.

The Eagles continued to battle in set three despite being down early.  With Beans serving, back-to-back kills from McColgin tied the set at 10-all and New Paltz called timeout.  The break worked as they earned the side-out and took four of the next five points to go ahead 14-11.  But the Eagles continued to fight and tied it up (14-14) on a block by junior Justin Waldorf (Eden, N.Y./Eden) and freshman Kyle Seeley (Ellicott City, Md./Howard).  New Paltz pushed its lead back up to as many as four points and held on for the win.

Juniata returns to action tonight, Saturday, March 1 at 5 p.m. against host Vassar.

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