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Juniata College
Eagles Quell Flame of Red Dragons to Advance to Sweet 16
November 11, 2022

Eagles Quell Flame of Red Dragons to Advance to Sweet 16

Video Box Score

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team cruised past SUNY Cortland 3-0 Friday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium. The win sends the Eagles to the Sweet 16, where they will host Christopher Newport tomorrow at 5:00. 

Lily Podolan wasted no time as she got the first three kills of the match with an Eagle service error mixed in to make it 3-1. The Red Dragons kept it close early, pulling even twice and hanging within one at 8-7. Two more Podolan kills sandwiched around another from Courtney Williams made it 11-7. From there, the Eagles took control as they closed the set on a 13-6 run that ended on a Cortland service error, 25-13. Juniata hit .400 in the set while they held Cortland to a -.034 hitting percentage.  

The second set saw the Eagles hit an absurd .615 as they completely dominated set two to the tune of 25-10. They held the Red Dragons again to -.034 hitting percentage as they used an 8-1 run early and a 6-0 run midway through the set to lead by as many as 13 before eventually taking the second set through a Mackenzie Coley kill. 

The Red Dragons held a 4-2 lead before a kill from Coley, two straight blocks from her, and Muth, along with a Kennedy Christy service ace, made it 6-4 Eagles. The teams went back and forth before kills from Olivia Foley, Podolan, and Williams made it 10-6. Juniata slowly extended their lead, with an ace from Aly Reardon pushing the lead to nine at 19-10.  

With the score at 20-12, the Eagles could smell the sweetness of the Sweet 16 around the corner as another Foley kill followed by a block from Williams & Muth, a Red Dragon error, and a Muth kill gave the Eagles match point. Cortland fought off two match points before Muth went off the block to end the match, 25-14. 

Podolan led all players with 12 kills with zero errors on 18 swings (.667) and added a block assist. Muth had nine kills (.500) with a dig and five block assists, while Coley added eight kills (.438) along with a career-high eight block assists. Williams contributed eight kills (.400) with a block assist. Christy chipped in with seven kills, an ace, three digs, and a block assist. Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez amassed 13 digs, four assists, and two aces. Foley had the offense humming all night as she totaled 37 assists, six kills, and a block assist. 

Juniata hit .489 in the match while holding Cortland to .012. Juniata had 18 block assists, which is their most in a match since the 3-2 win over Babson last year in the NCAA round of 32. It will be the second straight and the fifth trip overall to the Sweet 16 for the Eagles under head coach Heather Pavlik. 

The Eagles will take on CNU tomorrow at 5:00.