(Posted April 6, 2004)

Huntingdon, PA - In the midst of one of the finest seasons in the program's history, the Juniata College men's volleyball team placed a record six players on the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Division III All-Star team. Juniata had senior outside hitter Ryan Genova (Antietam/Reading), senior middle Kenny Eiser (Central Bucks West/Doylestown) and junior setter Ricky Ziegler (Northeastern/Manchester) all named to the first team. Senior opposite Brian Dinning (Penn Hills/Pittsburgh) joined sophomore libero Tim Cole (Pennsbury/Yardley) and freshman outside hitter Glenn DeHaven (Walt Whitman/South Huntington, N.Y.) on the second team. Juniata's previous high of four players on the Division III All-Star squad was achieved in both 1999 and 2000.

Eiser earned EIVA Division III honors for the third consecutive season. This is his first year as a member of the first-team after having been named to the second team as a sophomore and junior. The Eagle senior has put together arguably his best campaign as a senior. He leads the Eagles in hitting percentage with a mark of .469, which is also good enough to rank second among all Division III players in that category. He is second on the team with 220 kills and is third on the team in blocks with 60. He posted a season-high 23 kills in a win over Princeton University. He also had career highs in blocks and digs this season. Eiser currently is tied for third in school history in career blocks with 334. He was named the AVCA/Sports Imports national Division III player of the week once this season, and has earned EIVA Division III player of the week recognition twice this season.

Genova is earning EIVA Division III recognition for the second time after being named to the first team following his junior season. He leads the team in kills with 248 and kills per game with 3.54. He is second on the team in serve aces with 19 and his 80 digs ranks him third on the Eagle squad. He matched his career high with 25 kills in a win over Division III rival NYU this season. Genova has posted double-digit kill totals in 12 of the 18 matches in which he has appeared and topped the 20 dig mark on four occasions. His career best of 13 digs also came this season against Division I Rutgers-Newark. He ranks third in school history with 100 serve aces, and has piled up 1,100 kills for his career.

Ziegler earns first-team All-Star status in his first season as the full-time starting setter for Juniata. After starting nearly half the games at the setter spot as a sophomore, he has passed out 979 assists, good for 13.60 assists per game this season. He leads all Division III setters with his assist per game average and is tied for second in that category in the EIVA behind only the setter for Penn State. He also ranks second on the team in blocks, digs and serve aces with 61, 93 and 19 respectively. He has helped Juniata to a .333 team hitting percentage which ranks third among all Division III schools. Ziegler dished out a career-high 78 assists in Juniata's season-opening match against Ohio State, then added another 70 against Penn State later in the season. He has recorded 50 or more assists 11 times this season and had a career best 10 digs against Ohio State. He was named the AVCA/Sports Imports and EIVA Division III player of the week once during the season.

Dinning earned his first EIVA All-Star recognition in his first year as a regular starter for the Blue and Gold. The senior has posted career highs in nearly every category this season. He ranks third on the team with 181 kills and has tossed in a team-high 33 serve aces. He ranks 12th in NCAA Division III in aces per game and is second among EIVA players in that category. He recorded a career-high 23 kills and added a career-best seven aces in a win over Division I Saint Francis. That performance helped him earn EIVA Division III player of the week honors. Dinning is also hitting nearly .300 on the season and ranks fourth on the team in blocks and fifth in digs. He had a career-high 14 digs against Penn State.

Cole is also in his first season as the full-time starter for Juniata. After splitting time at the libero spot as a freshman he has lead Juniata in digs throughout the 2004 campaign. He has a team-high 152 digs this season and is averaging 2.34 digs per game. He has reached double figures in digs nine times this season, with his career-high of 17 coming in a win at Saint Francis. Six of his nine double digit dig performances have come against Division I opponents. Cole ranks ninth among EIVA players in digs per game. His solid passing ability has also been a key part of Juniata posting a team .333 hitting percentage during the season.

DeHaven wasted no time in making the adjustment to college volleyball as he captures second-team EIVA Division III honors in his freshman season. He ranks fourth on the team with 155 kills and an average of 2.15 kills per game. He ranks fourth among the regular attackers with a hitting percentage of .341. He is third on the team with 15 aces and fourth with 71 digs. He has added 30 blocks to the Eagle defense. He has pounded out a season-high 14 kills on a pair of occasions both against Division I Rutgers-Newark. DeHaven has recorded at least 10 kills seven times during his freshman campaign and notched 10 digs in a win over New York.

Juniata finished the regular season with a record of 13-6 overall and 7-5 in the extremely competitive EIVA Tait Division. The regular season saw Juniata post six victories over Division I opponents. Juniata has spent seven weeks at the number one spot in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III top 15 poll. The Eagles will be back in action on Friday night when the Eagles host rival Springfield College in a semifinal match of the EIVA Division III Championship.

Our readers respond...

Be the first to provide a response.

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