No. 3 Juniata Starts Season 2-0 At Altoona Tri-Match

Altoona, Pa. – The No. 3 Juniata men's volleyball team started its 2013 season with an undefeated day at Penn State Altoona Saturday.  Juniata (2-0) swept the hosting Lions 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-15) before defeating Lancaster Bible 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18) in back-to-back matches.

Senior Rob Strauss (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) finished the day with 47 assists.  Sophomore Joe Bortak (Jeannette, Pa./Penn Trafford) and freshman Matthew Kinnebrew (Ashburn, Va./Stonebridge) had 14 kills each, respectively.  Defensively, Kinnebrew also had a team-best five blocks on the day and sophomore Eric McCarthy (Villa Park, Ill./Willowbrook) finished with 14 digs.

Juniata's attack got progressively better in the win over Penn State Altoona, going from a .579 percentage to .708 with 17 kills and zero errors.  Junior Paul Ejups (Bay Shore, N.Y./West Islip) finished with a match-high 13 kills committing just one error on 16 swings.  Strauss had a match-high 32 assists in the win.

Against Lancaster Bible, it was sophomore Mark Feiler (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) who picked up a match-high 13 kills.  Strauss and freshman Ryan Shelton (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Baldwinsville) shared setting duties and finished with 15 assist each, respectively.  The Eagles defense earned more digs than Lancaster Bible and committed fewer reception errors.

Juniata returns home next Saturday, Jan. 26 and plays host to No. 11 Vassar, No. 15 Elmira and Stevenson in a quad-match.  The Eagles take on Elmira at 12 p.m. and face Vassar at 7:30 p.m.  They are 3-0 all-time against Elmira and hold a 10-2 record against Vassar. 

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