Juniata splits in final day of Nazareth Golden Flyer tournament

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Juniata men's volleyball defeated MIT to advance to the championship match of the Nazareth Golden Flyer tournament Saturday evening but fell to no. 3 Carthage in the final match 3-2.

Set scores for the championship match against Carthage (4-1) were 25-19, 16-25, 22-25, 25-19, and 11-15.

No. 5 Juniata (7-3) swung at a .216 team hitting percentage compared to Carthage's .256 attack percentage. Leading the kill production for the Eagles was senior Ben Wolff (Meadville, Pa./Meadville), sophomore Paul Ejups (Bay Shore, N.Y./West Islip) and freshman Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) with 10 kills each. Sophomore Ross Madden (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) contributed nine terminations and freshman Paul Kuhn (York, Pa./Central York) added eight.

Despite the six solo blocks and 12 block assists posted by the Eagles, three solos coming from Wolff, Juniata couldn't stop the Red Men's Randy Hansen who charted 25 kills against the Eagles.

Senior John Almquist (York, Pa./Central York) logged 40 assists and four service aces for the Blue and Gold, while also sprawling for a team high seven digs.

Set scores of the contest were 23-25, 25-18, 26-24, and 25-19.

Madden led the Eagles in kills with 12 with Wolff close behind with 11 terminations. Kuhn and Bortak each contributed nine kills while Ejups added eight.

Almquist grabbed a match high 46 assists while running an offense that hit at a .337 clip, while senior Mike Kraft (York, Pa./Eastern York HS) sprawled for a team high eight digs.

Juniata put up a total 13 team blocks, five solo and 16 block assists, to MIT's 3.5 team stops. Wolff posted six block assists and a solo block, while Madden put up two solo stops.

Juniata goes up against a D-I opponent on February 3, at 7:00 p.m. as they travel to Saint Francis University.

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