#8 Women’s Volleyball Drops Two Matches at Elmhurst Invitational

ELMHURST, IL- Juniata women's volleyball played St. Thomas (MN) in the first match of the night of the Elmhurst Invitational on Friday. The Tommies prevailed 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-19).

Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, CA/Rolling Hills Prep) and Amelia Kepler (Kane, PA/Kane Area) both tallied nine kills in the match with Phillips adding two assisted blocks. Christine Sumner (Dublin, OH/Bishop Watterson) had eight kills. Brittani Young (Columbia, PA/Hempfield Area) led in digs with 15 while Gabrielle Ooyama (Fairport, NY/Fairport) added five. Katie Dickins (Claremont, CA/Vivian Webb) had 18 assists while Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, PA/Upper Saint Clair) tallied 15 assists.

The Tommies led throughout most of the first set but the Eagles kept it close early on. Juniata trailed 12-10 but St. Thomas pulled away down the stretch to win by six points.

The two teams played evenly in the second game. JC was neck and neck with the Tommies with the set sitting at 21-21. Three straight points by St. Thomas, however, staked it out to a 24-21 advantage before Sumner narrowed it to two points on a kill. St. Thomas prevailed in the end on a kill from Kelly Foley.

The third game was also played evenly with Juniata taking a late 21-20 lead on a kill from Phillips. That proved to be the final lead for the Eagles as the Tommies outscored them 4-1 to claim the set and match.

In their second match of the night, the Eagles took a 1-0 lead on Washington-St.Louis but the Bears rallied to take the next three sets to win 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-21). Phillips tallied eight kills to lead the Eagles to go along with three digs and three blocks. Kepler and Sumner both had seven kills each and three assisted blocks. Lydia Mueller (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle) contributed six kills and three assisted blocks. Reynolds and Dickins both chipped in 17 assists with Dickins also adding seven digs.

Megan Moroney (Mentor, OH/Mentor) had a total of seven blocks (two solo, five assisted). Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) added four assisted blocks. Chelsea Scafuro (Geneva, OH/Geneva) added three assisted blocks. Ooyama led in digs with 12 and Young had eight.

In the first set, the Eagles broke a 15-15 tie with a 5-1 run to go ahead 20-16. After WashU narrowed the score to 21-19, Juniata scored the game's last four points to win 25-19.

JC was in control in the second set as it went ahead by as much as 18-11. The Bears rallied and outcored the Eagles 14-3, including the set's last nine points, to win 25-21 and even it up at 1-1.

The third set saw the Eagles break a 7-7 tie with two quick points but WashU respond with a 6-0 run to go up 13-9. Juniata would only get as close as three points as the Bears maintained their lead to go ahead 2-1.

The Bears and Eagles were knotted at 10-10 in the fourth set. WashU rattled off six straight points to go ahead 16-10. Juniata recovered to trail 21-20 after a service ace by Scafuro. It would be as close as the Eagles would get as the Bears took the set 25-21 and the match.

 Juniata will look to rebound tomorrow afternoon when it faces the #9 Blue Jays. Match time is at 3 p.m.