Women's Volleyball Opens Season With Sweep of St. Vincent

LATROBE, PA – The No.10 Juniata women's volleyball team swept the St. Vincent Bearcats 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-15) in their season opener Tuesday night. 

Megan Moroney (Mentor, OH / Mentor) led the Eagles with eight kills, followed by Brittanie Tannenbaum (Highlands Ranch, CO / Highlands Ranch) at seven and Glen Brumm (Oro Valley, AZ / Canyon Del Oro) and Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, PA / Greencastle-Antrim) at six. 

Katie Thomas (Batesville, IN / Batesville) recorded 15 assists, followed by junior Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Calir, PA / Upper Saint Clair) T 14. 

Head coach Heather Pavlik saw great effort and patience from her team as she worked to incorporate the new players into the system. Six freshmen were able to make their collegiate debuts against St. Vincent. With a tough tournament coming up, getting the younger players collegiate playing experience is important.

"Tonight definitely helped get the jitters out for them (the freshmen)," Pavlik said. "The older players did a good job of leading and giving the freshmen the opportunity to settle in." 

Juniata's defense showed its strength against the Bearcats. St. Vincent never recorded a run of more than four points throughout each set.

Katie Byrne (Annapolis, MD / Broadneck) recorded 16 digs in her first collegiate match.

"For the first match we got good effort from everybody," Pavlik said. "They handled it well when we switched things up and we played really good defense."

The Eagles averaged 11.67 kills per set and 17.67 digs per set.

Juniata prepares for the Wittenberg National Invitational this weekend, starting with a match against Johns Hopkins Fri. Sept. 4 at 5PM. The Eagles face No. 17 St. Thomas (MN) and No. 4 Wittenberg on Saturday