(Posted February 17, 2008)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Juniata College threatened to stretch its men's volleyball match against Ohio State into extra games, but in the end the Buckeyes had too much firepower as they downed the visiting Eagles 3-0, Sunday afternoon at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Game scores were 30-22, 30-28, and 30-19. Game two was the most competitive game for Juniata (4-5, 1-3 EIVA Tait). The Eagles responded from a 19-11 deficit, taking over the serve afte a triple-block by Zach Bock (Mount Wolf, Pa./Northeastern), Evan Halteman (Perkiomenville, Pa./Christopher Dock) and Chris Vrooman (Baden, Pa./Ambridge Area). Juniata then rattled off the next four points off Halteman's service, including kills by Bock and Dan Powers (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township). After a pair of side out service errors and a kill by Ohio State's Brett Versen, Juniata regained the serve with a side out kill by Matt Werle (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) that left the Buckeyes with a 22-18 lead. The Eagles scored the next four points with Vrooman serving, eventually tying the game at 22-22 after a Werle block. The game would be tied three more times, with the last coming at 28-28 after a service error by OSU's Sean Martin. A service error by Bock put the Buckeyes on game point, and a Juniata attack error on the subsequent OSU service allowed the Buckeyes to escape with the game two victory. Game three was largely controlled by Ohio State, with Juniata managing just three points off its own serve. The Eagles tied up the game at 7-7 following a service error by the Buckeyes' Kevin Heine, but a side out kill by Jason Tobkin returned the service to Ohio State, who managed to score the next two points and slowly pull away from there. Juniata hit just .048 for the match, led by Craig Harvey's (Beverly, Mass./St. Johns Prep) 11 kills and .171 attack percentage. Vrooman finished with seven kills on 18 swings with a .167 attack percentage. Werle set the offense with 30 assists, and tallied seven digs. Powers had five total blocks out of a Juniata's tally of 10.0 team blocks. Ohio State's Robbie Klein paced the Buckeye offense with 11 kills, with Daniel Mathews recording 25 assists. OSU logged 15.0 team blocks, led by Heine with seven. Juniata returns to action on Friday, Feb. 22, when it hosts East Stroudsburg at 7:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center in an EIVA Tait match. -30-

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