Men's Volleyball Sweeps Hornets, Defeats Bridgewater as Head Coach Glenn DeHaven Surpasses 350 Career Wins

LYNCHBURG, Pa.- The #3 Juniata men's volleyball team picked up a pair of wins this weekend as they won 3-0 over Lynchburg and 3-1 over Bridgewater, Saturday afternoon. 

In the opening set against Lynchburg, Juniata jumped ahead utilizing a 4-0 run and nursed it for the remainder of the set. With the score at 22-19, two errors by the Hornets and a Tyler Phillips ace ended set one 25-19. 

Juniata had their best set offensively in the second, as they hit .444 on their way to taking set two, 25-19. 

Set three opened with a dominant 9-1 run by the Eagles, capped by an Octavian Sperry kill. The Eagles sailed through the rest of the set, winning on a Sperry ace, 25-15. 

Phillips led the way with a match-high 11 kills (.444) to go with seven digs, two aces, a solo block and two block assists. Sperry added nine kills (.313), an ace, two digs and a solo block. Noah Rosner totaled 28 assists, three digs and a kill. 

In the second match against Bridgewater, trailing 1-4, Juniata rattled off eight of the next nine, with two aces from Phillips and Lucas Ricciardi apiece highlights, as Juniata built a 9-5 lead. Bridgewater got within one prior to Juniata taking six of the next seven, punctuated by a Phillips kill to go back ahead by six. Later, a Chris Mellor kill, and two errors by Bridgewater ended set one 25-17. 

Juniata found themselves in a large hole in set two, trailing by seven at 14-21. Kills from Ricciardi, Phillips, Mellor and Rosner, along with blocks from Roster and Mellor with some Bridgewater errors brought Juniata even at 23-23. Bridgewater took the final two points to take the second set 23-25. 

Trailing by three midway through the third, 13-16, the Eagles used a kill and a from Felix Baier, along with a kill from Phillips and several errors by Bridgewater to take the lead at 19-16. Later, a block by Logan Peterson and Deondre Sheffey made it 22-17. An ace by Peterson ended the set in favor of Juniata, 25-19. 

Juniata ended the match hitting .500 in the fourth set, starting things with a 12-4 blitz and later leading 23-10 as they won the set 25-13 to take the match. 

Phillips totaled 11 kills (.214), five aces, three digs and four block assists while Baier had 15 kills (.393) an ace, four digs and a solo block. Peterson added 10 kills (.286), three aces, three digs and a solo block. Mellor totaled nine kills (.692), and two block assists. Rosner had 41 assists, seven digs, two kills and a block assist.

Juniata is now 16-1, off to their best start since the 2023 season. 

The win also marks another milestone for head Glenn DeHaven, as he reached 350 career wins (132 at Stevens Institute of Technology, 219 at Juniata). 

Next Saturday, they will take on Misericordia at 3:00 and Stevenson at 5:00 on the campus of Stevenson University.