Eagles Push Winning Streak to 17 on Senior Night

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team pushed their winning streak to 17 on senior night with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-21) win over Eastern, Friday evening in Memorial Gymnasium.

Juniata kept up their strong play from their match earlier in the day as they had their best set hitting of the entire day, hitting .467 to open the match.  With the score at 7-4, a kill from Marybeth Weihbrecht (Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) and two straight from Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango H.S.) made it 10-4. Following an Eastern point via a JC error JC rattled off five more points. Two errors from Eastern, two kills from Weihbrecht and one from Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy) made it 15-5. Juniata didn't let up, and a kill from Weihbrecht gave JC the opening set, 25-15.  

The second set saw Eastern take the first two points via service ace, but JC was not deterred. A kill from Alyssa Tavera (Whittier, Calif. / La Salle H.S.), three from Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa. / Penn Manor) along with an ace from Makenna Hallager (Glenolden, Pa. / Merion Mercy Academy) made it 6-2. Eastern hung around, and a Juniata error made it 10-8. A kill from Taylor, a block by Dejia Danhi (Ashburn, Va. / Stone Bridge) and an EU error made it 13-8, forcing Eastern to call timeout. An ace from Katie Byrne (Annapolis, Md. / Broadneck) and another Eastern error made it 15-8. Eastern got within four, 18-14, before a kill and an ace from Danhi and another Edwards kill made it 21-14. Juniata wound up winning set two via a service error, 25-19. 

Eastern came out strong to open the third set as they jumped out to a 4-12 lead. A kill from Edwards, three aces by Sophia Gingrich (Minneapolis, Minn. / Minneapolis Southwest H.S.), and a kill from Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango H.S.) made it 9-12. The teams went back and forth to make it 10-14 before a service error, a kill and a solo block by Danhi and a Eastern attack error tied it 14-14. With the score at 15-16, JC took control. Two straight kills from Edwards, a solo block by Danhi, and two straight aces from Hallager made it 20-16 and forced an EU timeout. Edwards added a kill, which gave her a match-high 16, along with two EU errors made it 23-16 JC. A kill from Danhi made gave JC match point at 24-21. Eastern took the next two points before a service error ended the match, 25-21.

Juniata will face #25 Johns Hopkins, tomorrow at 1:00.