Women's Volleyball Wins First Match of the Year

ITHACA, Ny.- The Juniata women's volleyball team took down Ithaca, 3-1 (25-13, 25-15, 21-25, 25-11) in the Ben Light Gymnasium on the first day of the Bomber Invitational Friday night. 

Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del./ Delaware Military Academy) totaled 17 kills, two solo blocks, and a .452 hitting percentage on the night. Junior Aly Reardon (Downingtown, Pa./ Downingtown West HS) tallied 12 kills and 16 points, while Brianne Carmody (Midlothian, Va./ James River) notched 11 kills, 16 points, and three aces. Olivia Foley (Coldwater, Mich./ Coldwater HS) notched two services aces, 16 digs, and handed out 33 assists. Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez (Rio Grand, Puerto Rico./ Colegio Bautista de Carolina HS) followed with eight assists and led the Eagles with 21 digs, Kennedy Christy (Saxonburg, Pa./ Knoch HS) added eight digs.

In the first set, the Eagles dominated early with three aces, 11 kills and held the Bombers to only 13 points. Juniata took advantage of Ithaca's seven attacking errors throughout the set to gain momentum early. Juniata hit .300 as a team in the set and held Ithaca to .029.

Carmody showed out with five kills in the second set, and Reardon tacked on three for herself as JC won 25-15 while hitting .424 to go with their 17 kills to take a two sets to zero lead in the match. 

Ithaca claimed the third set, 21-25, as their hitting percentage increased to .225.

In the fourth and final set, the Eagles struck back hard with 12 kills and 3 blocks. Taylor ended the night with two kills on the last two plays as the Eagles held the Bombers to a -.061 hitting percentage and cruised to a 25-11 win in the final. 

Tomorrow, September 4th, Juniata faces defending national champion #6 ranked John Hopkins at 11 a.m. and St. John Fisher at 1:30 p.m. to wrap up their time at the Ithaca Invitational.