(Posted October 16, 2009)

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada -- The Juniata College men's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to open play on Friday afternoon at the Husky Oil Can-Am Men's Volleyball Challenge, hosted by the University of Alberta.

Juniata opened the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Brandon University, by set scores of 25-22, 25-19, and 25-17.

Chris Vrooman (Baden, Pa./Ambridge Area) led the Eagles with eight kills on 21 swings, while Evan Halteman (Perkiomenville, Pa./Christopher Dock) tacked on seven kills. Mike Kraft (York, Pa./Eastern York) set 19 assists for Juniata, however the Eagles hit just .141 for the match with 20 attack errors. Brandon countered with a .283 attack percentage, with 27 kills on 60 swings.

Anthony Damiano (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township) led the Eagles with nine digs.

Juniata finished the day with a 3-1 loss to Thompson Rivers University. Set scores were 27-25, 19-25, 25-17, and 25-15.

Zach Wanner (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) tallied a whopping 17 kills on 35 swings for a .429 attack percentage, while Halteman logged nine kills to go with four total blocks. Kraft had 35 assists while guiding a Juniata offense that hit .232 for the match, and added three blocks. The Eagles had 7.5 total blocks for the match, while Thompson Rivers finished with 3.0 total blocks.

The Can-Am Challenge, hosted by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, pits four NCAA programs against four Canadian counterparts representing Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), the governing organization for university athletics in Canada.

Other NCAA representatives in the tournament are the University of Southern California, Pepperdine University, and Lewis University. Brandon University is located in Brandon, Manitoba, while Thompson Rivers University is located in Kamloops, British Columbia. The tournament uses the rules and the style of ball used in international play.

Juniata concludes play in the Can-Am Challenge on Saturday afternoon when it faces the host squad from the University of Alberta, followed by the University of British Columbia from Vancouver.

Juniata-Brandon box score
Juniata-Thompson Rivers box score

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.