Men’s Volleyball Falls to Rutgers-Newark

NEWARK, NJ- The Juniata men's volleyball team traveled to the Golden Dome Arena for a weeknight tilt with CVC rival Rutgers-Newark. The teams went to five sets where the Scarlet Raiders came out to a 3-2 victory (22-25, 25-21, 17-25, 26-24, 17-15).

The Eagles suffer their first loss in conference play as their record stands at 9-1 and 22-4 overall. The Scarlet Raiders are also 9-1 in the CVC and are 17-8 overall.

Paul Kuhn (York, PA/Central York) led the offense with 19 kills. Mark Feiler (Mountville, PA/Hempfield) added 15 kills and Joe Bortak (Jeanette, PA/Penn Trafford) chipped in 14 kills. Matt Elias (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) tallied 53 assists.

Chris Heron (Las Vegas, NV/Harbor View) paced the defense with 13 digs. Bortak had five block assists and Kuhn picked up four block assists.

The Eagles led 9-3 in the first game before Rutgers-Newark rallied to get to within 9-8. The Scarlet Raiders were able to tie it up three times with the final occurrence happening at 19-19. JC was able to get ahead 23-19 and despite being outscored 3-2 down the stretch, came out with the 25-22 win.

The second set was tightly contested early on with Rutgers-Newark taking a 9-7 lead. The Eagles fought back with five straight points to go ahead 12-9. The Juniata lead increased to as much as 17-12 but the Scarlet Raiders used a 9-1 run to go up 21-18. Juniata was able to get to within 22-21, but Rutgers-Newark got the last three points it needed to even the match 1-1.

The Eagles were in firm control of the third set as they took it 25-17. Juniata led by a small margin in the fourth set but the Scarlet Raiders moved ahead 14-11.  JC trailed until it tied the frame up at 21-21. Rutgers-Newark regained the lead and outscored the Eagles 5-3 to win 26-24 and force a fifth set.

In the final game, Juniata broke a 6-6 tie and led up to 15-14. The Scarlet Raiders pulled away with a kill, an attack error, and a service ace to take the set and the match.

Juniata returns to Memorial Gymnasium this Friday when its hosts Stevenson. Match time will be at 7 p.m.