Eagles Top Lasers, Get Clawed by Cougars in Pair of Five-Set Thrillers

PITTSFORD, N.Y.- The #5 Juniata men's volleyball team split on the day in a pair of five-set slugfests, defeating Lasell 3-2 (21-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-18, 15-13) before falling to Misericordia 3-2 (19-25, 22-25, 27-25, 30-28, 4-15), Saturday afternoon. 

Juniata started the day by dropping set one to the Lasers. The Eagles led 14-13 after a Juan Armando ace before two Eagle errors and a kill put Lasell ahead for good. JC kept it close, never trailing by more than four, but a service error ended set one, 21-25. 

Set two saw the Eagles surge ahead on the strength of 6-0 run that featured two aces by Andrew Perhamus and kills from Armando, Reese Ganter and Tyler Goldsborough to lead 16-9. Later, leading 21-12, JC had to weather a 7-0 Laser run but got to set point, 24-21, on a Chris Mellor kill. Luke Hoffman ended the set with his own kill, 25-22. 

Set three saw the team exchange haymakers, with Juniata pushing their lead to five late, 19-14 before a Laser 7-0 burst suddenly put the Eagles in a small hole. Two straight kills from Tyler Phillips put JC up 22-21, but Lasell eventually eked out a 24-26 set three win. 

The Eagles cruised through set four, leading by as many as nine, to take the set 25-18. 

Set five saw neither team able to separate until Juniata went on 5-1 run behind a Lasell error, an ace from Goldsborough, the Lasers got their lone point off a JC service error, before Hoffman closed the run with a kill and two consecutive aces. Lasell didn't go away, pulling even eventually at 12-12. Back-to-back errors made it 13-13, A Lasell service error gave the Eagles match point, and Perhamus's fourth ace ended it 15-13. 

In the second match against the Cougars, the Eagles were plagued by errors early, falling in a 1-6 hole. They couldn't climb back out and dropped the first set 19-25. 

Juniata again trailed early 1-4 in the second but eventually pulled even at 10-10, following a Phillips kill, an Armando ace, and a kill from Grant Lorelli. The teams traded points, but JC just couldn't quite pull ahead. Later, kills from Goldsborough and Philips brought the Eagles back within one, 22-23, but the Cougars took the final two points and the set, 22-25. 

Set three, a 7-3 start saw the Eagles get off on the front foot, but the Cougars clawed back to knot things at 9-9. The end of the set was incredibly tight, with Juniata reaching set point first on a Phillips kill. Misericordia took the following two points to flip the advantage, but Juniata tied things on a service error. A kill from Will Sierer gave the Eagles another set point, and Mellor ended the set for them and kept the match going, 27-25.

Set four featured both offenses operating at their peak as the Eagles hit a robust .393 while the Cougars hit a scintillating .464. JC wound up fighting off three set points before eventually taking the final three points of the set on a Hoffman kill and two straight from Phillips to force a fifth set, 30-28. 

JC ran out of gas as the Cougars controlled the final set, 4-15. 

Juniata returns to action at Messiah, in a rematch of last year's NCAA Elite 8, next Friday at7:00