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Juniata College
Women's Volleyball Wins NCAA Regional Championship with their 30th Straight Win, Sweeps Wesleyan
November 14, 2021

Women's Volleyball Wins NCAA Regional Championship with their 30th Straight Win, Sweeps Wesleyan

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ROCHESTER, N.Y.- The Juniata women's volleyball team dominated Wesleyan, 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-21), to win the NCAA Volleyball Rochester, NY Regional Championship Sunday afternoon inside Clark Memorial Gymnasium.  The win means the Eagles advance to the Elite 8 at Francis Fieldhouse in St. Louis, Missouri, beginning Thursday.

Juniata came soaring out the gates as they surged ahead 10-2, with kills from Olivia Foley (Coldwater, Mich / Coldwater HS) off a well-placed dump to the back right corner and Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy) putting a ball in the back left corner that the Wesleyan defender couldn't handle. After a Cardinal kill, Foley dumped another ball over the back of her head to the right side where no Cardinal was. Taylor and Grace Erskine(Mooresville, N.C. / Community School of Davidson) combined by a block, Taylor crushed a cross-court kill, and Sydney Ohl (Dallastown, Pa. / Dallastown Area) continued her strong serving with an ace. The Cardinals took the next point following a time-out. Still, JC didn't stop as Erskine tallied two straight kills; Lily Podolan (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington Kilbourne) added a big kill down the line before a Wesleyan error made it 10-2. Juniata cruised through the set, and on set point, Podolan placed a ball with her right hand just in on the back right corner to win set one, 25-12. 

The second set was much tighter, with Wesleyan taking the lead late in the set at 17-18. A Taylor kill, and a Cardinal ball handling error gave JC a narrow 19-18 lead. The Cardinals tied it again before Erskine gently placed a kill over the block, and Aly Reardon (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West HS) tallied a kill after the ball took a fortuitous bounce off the ceiling to make it 21-19. The teams traded points, and with the score at 23-22, Mackenzie Coley (Norco, Calif. / Norco HS) walloped a ball to give JC set point. Reardon ended it with another ball down the line Wesleyan couldn't handle as the Eagles took set two 25-23.  

The Cardinals again had a lead early in the third, but Juniata would not be denied. A 13-4 run saw the Eagles take control of the set, with the final point of the run involving a diving dig by Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico / Colegio Bautista de Carolina HS) which ended with Reardon mashing another ball the Cardinals couldn't handle to make it 22-16. A service error momentarily slowed the Eagles, but Podolan smashed back-to-back kills to get Juniata to match point. Wesleyan made JC earn it, taking the next four points. Reardon went off the block to end the match, 25-21, as Juniata won their 30th consecutive match and became Regional Champions for the second time under head coach Heather Pavlik.  

The win is the 30th of the season, with the Eagles winning percentage sitting at .969 on the year. It is the team's 30th trip to the Elite 8 as a program, with the last trip being back in 2018. Foley was named Most Outstanding Player, while Taylor and Rousset-Hernandez joined her on the all-tournament team.  

The Eagles are the number #1 overall seed and will take on #8 MIT at 1:30 on Thursday. 

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