Tigers Fall To No. 9 So. Virginia On Opening Night Of Juniata Tournament

Huntingdon, Pa. – The Wittenberg men's volleyball team traveled to Huntingdon, Pa. to take part in the Juniata Tournament, where they will face off against Southern Virginia, Daemen College, and host Juniata College from over the next two days Jan. 25 -26. The Tigers started their weekend off against No. 9 So. Virginia, the Red and White fell 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-21). Wittenberg kept up with the Knights throughout the match, unable to top the hitting percentage of So. Virginia throughout four sets of action. Collin Buelow and Deion Woodson led the Tiger offense, finishing with double-digit kills on the night, with Buelow recording a team-high 12, while Woodson followed up with 11.

Match Breakdown

Wittenberg came out swinging in the first set, logging 15 kills on 25 attack attempts with just three errors, finishing with a .480 attacking percentage. The Tigers took the first set from So. Virginia 25-22, as the Red and White went point for point with the Knights until Wittenberg captured their first lead at 12-10 and didn't look back. Southern Virginia responded by taking the next three sets and holding the Wittenberg offense to swinging under .200 through the remainder. Wittenberg battled down the stretch going back and forth to start the third set and knotting things up at 10-10. A service rally by Buelow, which included a kill by Woodson, an ace and a kill by Blake Sbieralski brought the game back to even at 17-17.  Another kill by Sobieralski, this time during the Russell Burke service rally brought the game back to even at even at 20-20 and twice more tied at 22-22 and 23-23, So. Virginia would go on to take the final points of the set. Wittenberg would have to storm back to make things interesting after So. Virginia took an early 15-10 lead in the final set. The Tigers battled back to 20-16 and then 23-20 before the Knights took the final points of the match.

Who Stood Out

Isaiah Brock logged a team-high attacking percentage, swinging .467 with 9 kills on 15 total attempts with two errors. Brock finished the match with an ace, a dig and a block to his credit. Buelow added two aces, eight digs and two blocks on the night. Woodson finished the night swinging .304 adding eight digs and an ace. Ross Russell (23) and Noah Wissel  (16) combined for 39 of the 43 Wittenberg assists on the night.

UP NEXT

Wittenberg will return to action for day two of the Juniata Tournament beginning with Daemen College at 1:00 PM and closing out the day against host Juniata at 3:00 PM.