Hoffman Leads Eagles Past #15 Golden Flyers

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The #8 Juniata men's volleyball team defeated #15 Nazareth, 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) Friday evening on day one of the Juniata Invitational. 

Luke Hoffman led the way with 11 kills on 13 swings (.846), two aces, two digs, two solo blocks, and five block assists. Tyler Goldsborough tacked on 12 kills (.348), a dig, and a block assist. 

In set one, with the score at 20-19, Nazareth used a service error and a kill to take the lead back. Two errors, a Hoffman kill and a block by Hoffman and Reese Ganter, 24-21, gave the Eagles set point. Nazareth took the next two points before Goldsborough put down a kill to end the set, 25-23. 

Mini runs of 4-0 and 3-0 quickly put Juniata ahead midway through 14-8, following a Juan Armando kill. Juniata nursed the lead most of the way, but a Nazareth surge had them suddenly within one, 24-23, before Goldsborough smashed a kill down the middle from the back row to win the set again, 25-23. 

In set three, Juniata hit a match-best .379, using a late 7-0 run to jump ahead from 18-15 to match point, 24-15. Nazareth fought off the end of the match for a bit, but JC eventually took set three 25-19.  

Juniata will take on Virginia Wesleyan at 1:00 and Calvin at 5:00.