Eagles Unseat #13 Statesmen, Dethrone Royals

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's volleyball team grabbed a Continental Volleyball Conference win over Eastern Mennonite 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-23) and narrowly defeated #13 Hobart 3-2 (24-26, 25-16, 25-10, 23-25, 15-12), Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Gymnasium. 

In the opening set against EMU with a score of 13-9, the Eagles ripped off an 8-2 run with two kills from Luke Hoffman, Juan Armando, and Tyler Goldsborough and a pair of Royal errors. Juniata cruised to a 25-13 win. 

In set two a 8-1 sprint with the score at 5-4 gave Juniata a comfortable lead (13-5) they protected the rested of the way as the Eagles won on a service error, 25-12. 

In set three, the Royals threatened to force a fourth set up 20-22, but a kill from Goldsborough and two thunderous kills from Hoffman put JC ahead. A service error momentarily stopped the run, but Hoffman smashed another kill and ended the match with an ace, 25-23. 

Hoffman had nine kills (.500) with two aces, a solo block, and two block assists, while Goldsborough had 12 kills (.455) along with an assist, two aces, and three digs. Reese Ganter had 34 assists, two kills, two aces, and three digs while running the offense to hitting .380. 

Juniata led 10-4 early against Hobart, but the Statesman clawed their way back and led late 19-21. Kills from Chris Mellor, Armando, and Goldsborough made it 22-1, but the visitors closed on a 5-2 run to take the set, 26-24. 

In the second set, with the score at 12-10, three errors and a Campbell Gerdeman kill were sandwiched around an Eagle service error to put them ahead 16-11. Juniata didn't look back as they eventually won by nine, 25-16.  

Juniata hit a robust .471 with a 14-3 run midway through the third set. Andrew Perhamus served for seven straight points as they dominated to take the set 25-10.  

Hobart took a four-point lead, 12-16, in the fourth and fended off the Eagles the rest of the way. A Goldsborough kill made it 23-24, but Hobart took the next point to force the match into a fifth set. 

The final set was a slugfest early as the Statesman held a 6-7 lead as neither team could create separation. Hoffman put down two straight kills as the Statesman had no answer for him in the middle, and Armando followed with a kill before Goldsborough ripped his fourth ace to make it 10-7. The teams traded points the rest of the set, as JC won on a service error, 15-12. 

Goldsborough had another big match as he tallied 17 kills (.344) with two assists, four aces, and five digs, while Ganter had 45 assists, two kills, an ace, 11 digs, and three block assists. Hoffman had ten kills (.625), two aces, four digs, a solo block, and five block assists. 

Juniata will travel to take on #2 Southern Virginia on Friday at 7:00.