Eagles Tame Tomcats

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's volleyball team won handily against visiting Thiel, 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-23), Friday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium. 

Set one saw the Eagles hit a blistering .643 as they opened the match on an 11-3 run and never looked back. With the score at 23-12, Joe Fick (Venetia, Pa. / Peters Township) put down a kill to get the Eagles to set point, and an ace from Robert Bowling (Columbus, Ohio / Hilliard Darby) ended set one, 25-12.

Young with the slick kill early in set one #wingsup #JCMVB pic.twitter.com/p8vDG4MvXN

— Juniata Athletics (@JuniataEagles) February 15, 2020

Bowling's ace wins set one #wingsup #JCMVB pic.twitter.com/ukavJHJ0vE

— Juniata Athletics (@JuniataEagles) February 15, 2020

Set two saw the Eagles again open with a run, this time of the 7-1 variety, but the Tomcats managed to hang around for a bit as a JC attack error made it 14-9. From that point, four errors from the visitors, an ace from Kevin Duffy (Carlisle, Pa. / Carlisle HS) and a block by Austin Goodsel (Corry, Pa. / Fort Leboeuf HS) and Joseph Chambers (West Hempstead, N.Y. / West Hempstead H.S.) made it 19-9, and the Tomcats called timeout.  A Chambers kill combined with the teams trading errors down the stretch saw the Eagles take set two, 25-14.  

The third set was by far the tightest with Thiel leading late, 17-18. A Tomcat error kills from Will Phelan (Saegertown, Pa. / Saegertown H.S.) and David Hibner (Burke, Va. / Lake Braddock Secondary) and a bad set from Thiel made it 21-18. The Tomcats came back to knot things at 22-22, a kill from Drew Hunker (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny) was followed by an Eagle error to even things again. Max Cooley's (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park H.S.) kill pushed the Eagles to match point, and a Thiel error ended the match 

Juniata will take on Messiah in a neutral site match at BANE in Harrisburg, Friday at 7:00.