Juniata Women's Volleyball Begins Landmark Play With Sweep

SCRANTON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team looked to end its four-match winless streak as it began Landmark play on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles proved that they are still are the team to beat as it knocked off Susquehanna 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-21) and host Scranton 3-1 (21-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-9).

Against the River Hawks, Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) had 33 assists, 13 digs, and two block assists. Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, Calif./Rolling Hills Prep) paced the team with 13 kills and added four digs and three block assists. Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) hit .438 for the match with nine kills and three block assists. Katie Bryne (Annaplis, Md./Broadneck) led the defense with 14 digs while Korin Koehler (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) chipped in 10 digs.

In the first meeting between the two teams since last year's Landmark Championship which Juniata won 3-2, Susquehanna was out to avenge the loss. The Eagles, however, came out in full force as it got off to a 12-2 lead in the first set. Juniata was never threatened it went on to take the set and lead the match 1-0.

The second set was a bit closer as the frame was tied early on at 4-4. Juniata jumped ahead 23-13 and cruised to a 25-17 win. Set three saw the Eagles go up 14-9 but SU crept back in as it tied it up at 17-all. JC regained the lead and was ahead 20-17 before another River Hawk rally tied the set at 20-20. The Eagles went 5-1 down the stretch to go ahead and eventually claim the set and the match.

In the Scranton match, Gearhart led the way with 18 kills and hit .375. She also contributed five digs and three block assists. Megan Conger (Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) added nine kills and a had .471 hitting percentage. Reynolds tallied 33 assists and 11 digs. Katie Thomas (Batesville, Ind./Batesville) chipped in 14 assists. Bryne had 22 digs.

The Royals led 5-2 in the first set but the Eagles ripped off six straight points to go up 8-5. Scranton rallied and after a 15-15 tie, went on an 8-0 run to lead 23-15. Juniata rallied but the Royals held off the threat as they would go on to take the set and lead 1-0.

JC went up 4-0 in the second set and while the Royals cut the lead to 6-5, a 14-5 Eagle run put Juniata on top 20-10. JC would not look back as it easily won 25-14 to even the match at one set each.

Juniata dominated the last two sets. The Eagles led 13-0 to begin the third frame and won 25-12. JC had a commanding 19-2 lead in the fourth frame and won by the score of 25-9.

"We regrouped and got back into the gym this week and we worked on some things that we were struggling with," said head coach Heather Pavlik afterwards. "It was really nice to see especially during the Susquehanna match, they did what we asked them to do. They followed a game plan and did some things defensively that we asked them to do. It was nice to see some training translate into some game-like situations."

The Eagles return to Memorial Gymnasium to host Clarion of Division II on Tuesday night. Match time will be at 7:00 p.m.