The Misericordia University men's volleyball split a pair of matches against nationally-ranked opponents, Saturday in Rochester NY.

The Cougars knocked off fifth-ranked Juniata, 3-2, but fell to #11 St. John Fisher, 3-0.

Jared Piontkowski set a school record with 32 kills against Juniata and added four blocks and two aces.  Anthony DePalma added 10 kills and three aces while Gannon DeFrain had 53 assists and two aces.

MU took the first two sets, 25-19, 25-22 before Juniata rallied to win the next two, 27-25, 30-28.  The Cougars cruised to a 15-4 win in the finale.

The Cougars took advantage of six Juniata attack errors, including two blocks by Piontkowski and Clendening, to take a quick 6-1 lead in the opening set.

Three more errors and an ace by DeFrain gave MU a 13-6 lead.

A kill by DePalma gave the Cougars a 21-14 lead and Piontkowski had two kills and an ace to close out the win.

In the second set, the Cougars broke a 14-14 tie with a 5-1 run to take a 19-15 lead.

The Eagles rallied to pull within a point at 23-22, but Piontkowski and Fehnel closed the set with back-to-back kills.

After Juniata scored three straight points to close both the third and fourth sets, the Cougars raced out to a 10-1 lead in the clincher.

DePalma led the Cougars with seven kills against St. John Fisher while Zane Martin and Jackson Fehnel added six and five kills, respectively.

The Cardinals grabbed an early lead and held off a late MU rally to take the opener, 25-17.

SFC broke open a close game with a 7-1 run to win the second set, 25-15.

The Cardinals used a 6-2 spurt in the middle of the third set to pull away on the way to a 25-17 win.