MADISON, N.J. – The Drew University men's volleyball team lost by a final of 3-0 to No. 5-ranked Juniata College in a Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) match Friday evening in Baldwin Gym.
 
The Eagles (24-3, 4-1 CVC) won by scores of 25-12, 25-18, 25-11.
 
Before the start of the match, Drew recognized its four seniors – C.J. Addeo, Bryan Do, Huriel Perez, and Ephraim Smith – in a brief ceremony. They are the first four-year players in the history of Drew men's volleyball, which began as a varsity program in 2022.
 
Smith and Addeo led the Ranger offense with five and four kills, respectively, while freshman Quinn Donahue handed out 14 assists. Freshman Michael Shipman added four blocks for Drew.
 
Octavian Sperry contributed 11 kills for the Eagles while Max Finkelstein served up seven aces.
 
Juniata jumped to a 10-4 lead in the opening set. The Rangers trimmed the deficit to five twice, the last coming at 12-7, but the Eagles used a 6-1 spurt to open up a 10-point lead before pulling away down the stretch.
 
The Eagles scored the first three points of the second set before the Rangers answered with three consecutive points of their own, capped by a kill from freshman Gio Martin. Drew tied it again on a kill from Shipman to make it 6-6, but Juniata scored the next three points, taking the lead for good.
 
The Rangers continued to keep it close, and Juniata led just 20-16 following a block from Donahue and Shipman. Freshman Matthew Adegbite fired up a kill to make it 23-18 before Juniata scored the last two points of the set.
 
After falling behind early in the third stanza, the Rangers battled back with a 3-0 surge, capped by another Donahue-Shipman block to make it 11-7. However, the visitors scored the next four points before eventually closing the match on an 8-2 run.
 
The Rangers close out the regular season with a home tri-match on Saturday. Drew takes on Elizabethtown College at noon in a big CVC tilt that will decide the Rangers' conference playoff fate before finishing the day with a non-conference match versus Lehman College at 4 p.m.