HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The Juniata men's volleyball team rallied
from a two-set deficit to defeat the George Mason Patriots, 3-2, on Saturday
evening at the Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center.
The Eagles won the match with set scores of 24-26, 20-25,
25-15, 25-19, 15-13. Juniata is currently ranked fourth in the latest AVCA
Division III men's volleyball poll.
Mason (3-5) won the closely contested first set, which
featured 17 ties. Neither team was able to gain more than a two-point
advantage, but with the set tied at 24-24 the Patriots made their move behind
two kills by redshirt senior outside hitter Joe Norton to secure the 26-24 win.
The Patriots never trailed in the second set, as it took the
lead for good after the set was tied at 1-1. The squad was able to push its
lead to 15-10, but the Eagles (8-3) used a 5-1 run to pull within one point
(16-15). A service error from Juniata and kills by junior outside hitter Mark
Jones and Norton gave Mason a 19-15 advantage and the Patriots extended their
lead to as many as six points (23-17) before claiming the 25-20 victory.
Juniata mounted a comeback in the third set, taking an early
6-3 lead. Both teams exchanged points to leave the score at 13-10 in favor of
the hosts, but the Eagles then used a 6-1 run to assume a 19-11 lead. Mason
could only get as close as six points the remainder of the way as it was held
scoreless after the 15-21 mark for the final 25-15 margin in favor of Juniata.
Another early run benefitted the Eagles to start the third
set as they assumed a 6-1 lead. Mason pulled to within two points late in the
set (20-18) but couldn't complete the comeback as it fell, 25-19, after Juniata
used a 5-1 run to close the set.
In the decisive fifth set, Mason held a slim 3-2 lead early
on but once again fell victim to a Juniata run, as the Eagles grabbed a 9-5
advantage with a 7-2 run. The Patriots used a brief 3-0 run of their own to pull
to within one (9-8), but couldn't overcome the hurdle as both squads exchanged
points the rest of the way and Juniata won the match with a fifth set score of
15-13.
Mason led the attack battle for the match, as it recorded a
69-58 lead in kills, but only hit .205 compared to .307 for the Eagles. Juniata
held the advantage in defensive net play, as it posted 12 blocks compared to
just four for Mason.
Jones and Norton both finished the match with over 20 kills
apiece, as Jones posted a game-high 21 kills while Norton finished with 20.
Redshirt freshman setter Pete Cuppernull added a game-high 57 assists, while
junior outside hitter Max McFarland was the only other Patriot with
double-digit kills, tallying 13. Defensively, sophomore libero John Jepson had
a game-high 14 digs, and Norton, junior middle blocker Piotr Dabrowski and
freshman middle blocker Hunter Stevens finished with two blocks apiece.
The Eagles were led by 20 kills from Ben Wolff and 50
assists by John Almquist. Wolff also chipped in a game-high seven blocks.
Mason returns to action next Friday, opening EIVA play at Harvard.
