(Posted January 26, 2010)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Juniata College men's volleyball climbed the mountain over to Rec Hall to play its first road match against Division I foe and EIVA Tait rival Penn State University. The Eagles' overall record against the Nittany Lions heading into the match was 0-35, Juniata wanted to change that.

Unfortunately, the Eagles will have to wait until they play the Nittany Lions again on March 23rd.

Penn State improved to 36-0 overall against Juniata, winning Tuesday night's match 3-0.

Set scores for the Nittany Lions were 30-19, 30-27, 30-18.

The match was a block party all around. Penn State finished with 21 total blocks while Juniata came up with 16. Evan Halteman (Perkiomenville, Pa./Christopher Dock) soared for five total blocks. For Penn State, Edgardo Goas, Max Lipsitz, and Ian Hendries all came away with five total blocks.

Blocking between the Nittany Lions and Eagles was neck-and-neck, but the match's serving was not as even.

Juniata combined for two service aces with 14 service errors; Penn State fared better with seven aces and 11 errors.

"Right now we don't serve as well as they [Penn State] do," said Juniata coach Jeremy Price after the match. "This will jump out at you when you see the stats."

Juniata hit .115 as a team for the night, while Penn State sailed at a cool .349 attack percentage. Leading the way for the Eagles was Zach Wanner (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) with 10 kills, six errors on 30 attempts with one service ace. Outside hitter Chris Vrooman (Baden, Pa./ Ambridge Area) reached double digits in kills on 21 attempts, tying Wanner with 10.

Joe Sunder was the highlight for Penn State's offense, piloting his team with a match high of 11 kills with only five errors on 18 attempted swings. Will Price also came up big for the Nittany Lions logging 10 kills and four services aces.

Defensive leaders for the match were Anthony Damiano (Lititiz, Pa./Manheim Township) who tallied eight earth shattering digs. Penn State libero Dennis Del Valle sprawled for ten digs.

Juniata will return to the court this Saturday, January 31st, when the Eagles' get another crack at the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio. Juniata dropped its season opener to the Buckeyes 3-0 back on January 18th.

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