HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's volleyball team opened the Juniata Invitational with a pair of wins against the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras 3-1 (18-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-20) and 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-13) against Grove City Friday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium.
In game one against P.R. Rio Piedras, the visitors took set one as they hit a blistering .520, and the Eagles couldn't quite match their pace.
The Eagles jumped to a 12-5 lead early and never let the visitors get closer than five the rest of the way, as a Juan Armando service ace ended set two 25-15. The Eagles held P.R. Rio Piedras to -.222 hitting percentage in the set.
The third set featured a 5-0 run early with a Grant Lorelli kill, two from Luke Hoffman, an ace from Armando, and an attack error to make it 9-4. JC nursed their lead the rest of the set, with Robbins putting down a kill to end the set 25-21.
The fourth set saw the Eagles trailing late, 14-15, prior to four straight points from JC punctuated by a Hoffman ace to force a P.R. Rio Piedras timeout. The visitors got within one, 20-19, but the Eagles closed on a 5-1 run, as Lorelli closed the match with a kill.
Hoffman had a team-high 13 kills (.571), with three aces, two digs, two solo blocks, and five block assists. Armando tallied 10 kills, an assist, three aces, two digs, and four block assists.
Juniata efficiently handled Grove City in the second match of the day, as they never let the Wolverines get comfortable. JC held the visitors to a negative hitting percentage in two of the three sets and a -.141 overall. Octavian Sperry had eight (.400) kills for the Eagles to go with four digs and a solo block. Nathanael Brown was a force from the service line, racking up seven aces along with five kills (.333), four digs, and a block assist. Tyler Goldsborough added four aces from the service line while Max Finkielstein added two, and the team had 15 in the match.
Juniata returns to action tomorrow, hosting St. Vincent at 2:00 and Stevenson at 6:00.
