Juniata Sweeps Landmark Conference Weekend

By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: JD Cavrich Photography 

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Juniata College women's volleyball team made a clean sweep of the first Landmark Conference weekend, defeating The University of Scranton and Catholic University, 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-13) and3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-15) respectively.

The first match of the weekend, against Scranton, was the second meeting of the two teams this year. The Eagles previously defeated the Royals 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-10) in non-conference play at the Christopher Newport Invitational on Sept. 28. Today, Juniata showed similar dominance, not allowing the Royals to score 20 points in any of the three sets.

"We played a lot of different people," said head coach Heather Pavlik. "Everyone chipped in a did a good job. We got a lot of people some opportunities to show what they can do. I thought Mar-Jana was especially good when she went in. That was fun to watch. She's developing every single day and getting better. It was fun to watch in a competition."

Freshman Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, Calif./Rolling Hills Prepratory) had a team-high six kills and seniors Amy Miller (Chesapeak, Va./Western Branch) and Rachelle Wiegand (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) both notched nine digs. Sophomore Bryce Arnold (Shippensburg, Pa./Shippensburg Area) continued her strong service record with a team-high three service aces.

"There were a lot of people serving well," added Pavlik. "I thought Amy served well, Brittanie Tannenbaum when she came in served well, Amelia had moments where she served well, so did Rachelle, and Brittani Young had a stretch where she served six in a row. We had a little bit from everybody. Everyone did a good job serving where I asked them to serve."

In the second match of the day, junior Amelia Kepler (Kane, Pa./Kane Area) pounded out 14 kills. Miller, and fellow senior Courtney Lydick (McKean, Pa./General McLane) rounded out the top of the Juniata offense with 10 and eight kills respectively.

"I thought Amelia was good," said Pavlik. "She had a lot more pop today. She was pretty sharp. I thought we served tough and had Catholic out of system for most of the game. That gave us some good opportunities and we were able to get our middles the ball. That gave Courtney the opportunity to get some good swings."

Juniata plays next weekend, Oct. 11 and 12, at the Sea Gull Classic in Salisbury, Md..

"Next weekend will be a little bit of a climb each match," said Pavlik. "We'll play Bridgewater on Friday and they've been playing pretty good ball recently. On Saturday we have Mary Washington and they've beaten some good teams recently. Then Salisbury, and they are always a very physical and good team. So it builds as we go an will give us a good opportunity to see where we are."

The Eagles next return home Oct. 25 and 26 to host the annual Wid Guisler Invitational. Juniata will open tournament play on the 25^th against Johns Hopkins at 7 p.m.

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