Eagles Split on Day Two of ASICS Tournament

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team split their final two games of their annual ASICS tournament, Saturday in Memorial Gymnasium.

The Eagles took down Swarthmore, 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-10) before falling to Carnegie Mellon 3-1 (21-25, 18-25, 25-23, 9-25).

In the first match, the Eagles came out hot as they jumped ahead 10-3 early against Swarthmore. The Garnet closed the gap to 15-12 before a service error, an Emma Davis (East Berlin, Pa / Dover Area HS) kill an ace from Sophia Gingrich (Minneapolis, Minn. / Minneapolis Southwest H.S.) and a Swarthmore attack error made it 19-12. Juniata cruised the rest of the way, with a Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy) kill giving JC the opening set, 25-19. 

Swarthmore took the next two sets to put the Eagles on the brink. The fourth set was tight through the most of the set as the Garnet closed within two, 17-15. Two kills Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa. / Penn Manor) bookended a block from Dejia Danhi (Ashburn, Va. / Stone Bridge) and Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango H.S.) to give the Eagles some breathing room at 20-15. Swarthmore never got closer than three the rest of the way as a Davis kill ended the set for the Eagles to force a fifth set. 

The teams traded points deep into the final set by as the Garnet pulled even at 9-9. Another Edwards kill followed by a block from her and Danhi put JC up two. Swarthmore called a timeout and took the following point to get within one but that was the final point they would take as the Eagles closed on a 4-0 run to win the match.  

The second match against Carnegie Mellon saw the Eagles dropped the first two sets as they quickly fell into a 2-0 hole. Trailing 1-3 early in the third set, Eagles ripped off a 6-0 run. Edwards put down a kill Gingrich followed with an ace, Gonsar and Davis combined for a block, Gingrich served up another ace before Edwards and Gonsar tacked on a kill apiece to make it 7-3. The Eagles continued to push ahead, with the Tartans staying right on their heels and eventually tying things at 20-20. A service error made it 21-20 before CMU reeled off three straight to make it 21-23. The Eagles didn't quit as a kill from Danhi, a block from Edwards and Davis followed by an Edwards kill gave JC set point. Gingrich tacked on one final ace to end set three 25-23.  

The Eagles appeared to run out of gas as CMU took a 2-13 lead and never looked back as they took the fourth set 9-25 to earn the win.  

Edwards and Gonsar made the all-tournament team for the Eagles. 

The Eagles head to Washington University for the East/West Battle next weekend, kicking things off against Trinity (Tex.) Friday at 11:00 a.m.