Eagles Take Down Highlanders in Straight Sets on Senior Night

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's volleyball ended its 2017 regular season on Saturday night with a home match against Cairn. The Eagles swept the Highlanders in straight sets 3-0.

Cairn started off quickly with a 4-1 lead in the first set. Juniata came back to tie the match at 10-10. The Eagles took the lead but held on to a 17-16 advantage. JC was able to hold on in the end with a 25-21 win.

In the second set, the Eagles broke a 5-5 tie with a 6-0 run to go up 11-5. That lead grew to 16-8 and eventually 23-14 as Juniata won 25-18.

Cairn scored the first two points of the third set until Juniata answered with an 8-3 run to go up 8-5. The Highlanders cut their deficit to one point, 8-7, but a 7-3 JC run upped the home team's advantage to 15-10. Cairn got as close as two points as late at 20-18 but the Eagles staved off the threat to win 25-21.

Quinn Peterson (Las Vegas, Nev./Shadow Ridge) topped his performance from last night with a 15 kill performance and hit .417. He also had three assisted blocks. Quinn Looper (Houston, Texas/Episcopal) got his first start of the season and put up 39 assists and six digs. Zach Guiciardi (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) led the defensive effort with 11 digs. Mahlon Bender (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) picked up four block assists.

Prior to the match, the team honored its four graduating seniors Guiciardi, Looper, Jake Dube (Altamont, NY/Guilderland), and Kyle Seeley (Ellicott City, Md./Howard). Dube finished with six kills, four digs, and one assisted block on the night. Seeley had seven kills and two assisted blocks.

Juniata travels to Arlington, Va. next Friday for the Continental Volleyball Conference semifinals. The #2 seeded Eagles play #3 seeded Stevenson at 3:00 p.m.