Eagles Win Battle of the Eagles and Morph Past Rangers on Senior

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The #3 Juniata men's volleyball team closed the regular season with a pair of victories, 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-13) and 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-12), Saturday afternoon as the Eagles honored their seniors prior to the start of the Drew match. 

Elmira used an early 4-0 surge in the opening match to jump ahead 9-12 and fended off the Eagles the rest of the set as they hung on for a narrow 23-25 win. 

Midway through the second set, two kills from Tyler Goldsborough and an Elmira attack error pushed the Eagle lead to four, 15-11. The visitors got within one for the last time at 16-15. The Eagles closed the set, taking nine of the final 14 points to take set two, 25-20, on a Goldsborough kill. 

Elmira exploded out to a 4-12 lead in set three, but the Eagles quickly responded as they used four errors from the visitors and a block by Austin Goodsel and Luke Hoffman to get within three at 9-12. Juniata kept nipping at Elmira's heels but found themselves trailing 18-22 late. Kills from Goldsborough and Drew Hunker, along with a block by Will Phelan and Hoffman and an Elmira error, brought Juniata even at 22-22. The teams traded points, with Juniata fighting off two set points. At 24-25, Kevin Duffy III got a kill, Goldsborough added another to give Juniata set point, and Phelan ended the set with an ace.  

An avalanche of points for JC opened the fourth set as they built a 15-4 lead and never looked back. Hitting .286 and holding Elmira to -.125, Juniata cruised to a 25-13 win to take the match. 

Duffy III had 18 kills (.727), with two solo blocks and a block assist. The .727 hitting percentage is the fourth-best in a single game in program history. Goldsborough tallied 16 kills (.258) with four digs. Austin Goodsel had 47 assists, three kills, five digs, a solo block, and three block assists.  

In game two, the Eagles utilized a 6-0 run midway through the second to blow the set open. Multiple Drew errors, along with a Hunker kill and an ace from Duffy, extended the Juniata lead to nine, 18-9. JC took set one, 25-13, on a Joseph Chambers ace. 

In set two, three kills from Max Cooley, two from Duffy, and one apiece from Chambers and Phelan paired with a Ranger attack error to help the Eagles build an early 8-1 lead they would not relinquish. Another 8-1 push later in the set, capped by another Cooley kill, put Juniata ahead 20-6. A Ranger attack error ended set two, 25-12. 

The Eagles hit .609 in set three as they cruised through the final set, 25-12, and held Drew to -.167 to win the set and the match. 

Hunker tallied seven kills (.333) to go with an assist, an ace, five digs, and two solo blocks. Cooley totaled eight kills (.278), an ace, and five digs, while Chambers added five kills (.444), two aces, and four digs. Phelan contributed seven kills (.875), along with an assist and a dig. 

The Eagles wrap the regular season 27-2. They earn a bye as the two seed and advance to the semifinals, which will be hosted by Southern Virginia. They will play the winner of #3 Marymount vs. #6 Kean.