Eagles Sweep Aside Diplomats

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team swept Franklin and Marshall, 3-0, Friday evening in Gibbel Gymnasium. 

Marybeth Weihbrecht (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) totaled 12 kills while hitting .733. Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) totaled six kills, a solo block and two block assists.

In the opening set, Juniata led 6-4 early before a 15-6 run pushed the Eagle lead all the way to 21-11. The Diplomats scored three points on two Eagle ball handling errors and an ace two make it 21-14 before Katie Byrne (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) served up an ace and Edwards smashed a kill. With the score at 24-17, Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del./Delaware Valley Military Academy) scored the final point to give Juniata the first set. 

Franklin & Marshall scored the first two points of set two before the Eagles reeled off 12 of the next 14 points to lead 12-4. The Diplomats got the next two points before a kill from Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor), two kills from Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa./Shenango H.S.) and several F&M errors made it 18-8. Following the Franklin and Marshall timeout, a block by Weihbrecht and Edwards followed by kills from Alyssa Tavera (Whittier, Calif./La Salle H.S.) and Weihbrecht made it 21-9 Juniata. The teams exchanged points to make it 22-10, and the Eagles scored their final three points of the set from Diplomat errors to take set two 25-13.

The third set was tightly contested early with score eventually knotted at 8-8. The Eagles managed to create some breathing room from there. Two aces from Chelsea Scafuro (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva), two kills from Weihbrecht and one from Edwards put the Eagle lead at 17-10. More Diplomat errors and a block by Edwards and Moroney pushed the Eagle lead to 22-14. F&M wouldn't quit, however, and tallied 8 of the next nine points to make it 23-22. The Diplomats committed a service error to make it match point and Gonsar put down the final point to give Juniata the sweep. 

The Eagles will host Wesleyan at 12:00 tomorrow before facing #14 Johnson and Wales at 6:00.