Eagles Take Down #15 Eastern 3-1 at Wid Guisler

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- It was a battle of two Eagles teams on Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium. It was the Juniata Eagles that came out on top in the end over the Eastern Eagles 3-1 in the second match of the annual Wid Guisler Tournament.

Juniata was down 2-1 early in the first set but went on a 6-1 run to go ahead 8-3. EU was able to close to within one point three times and tied the match on two occasions and had a 24-23 lead. Back-to-back kills from Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) and Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, Calif./Rolling Hills Prep) gave JC a 25-24 lead. Eastern answered with a kill to knot the set at 25-25. A kill from Megan Conger (Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) followed by a service ace from Glen Brumm (Oro Valley, Ariz./Canyon Del Oro) gave Juniata the two points it needed to win the set.

Eastern went ahead 7-5 in the second set and after Juniata came back to tie the frame at 10-10, EU took a 14-10 lead.  JC picked up five straight points to go ahead 15-14 but the Eagles of Eastern took the back its advantage. Eastern led 21-18 and rattled off four straight points to close out the set and win 25-10 to tie the match at 1-1.

JC came out firing in the third set at it raced out to a 6-0 lead. EU started to creep back in and was as close as 11-9. With the set standing at 16-11 Juniata, JC used a 9-4 run to shut down EU 25-15 and go ahead 2-1.

Juniata led 8-2 in the fourth frame. After Eastern cut the lead to just 9-8, JC increased its lead with a 6-2 run. The Blue and Gold held an advantage for the remainder of the set but EU was able to get to within one point up tying it up at 24-23. JC put any thoughts of an Eastern comeback try to rest as Conger smashed a kill to end the frame and give Juniata the set and match win.

Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) led the JC offense with 13 kills and hit .357. On defense, she had three digs, three solo blocks, and six assisted blocks. Phillips added 12 kills and four digs. Moroney chipped in 10 kills and hit .350. Conger tallied nine kills on the night. Katie Byrne (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) put up 23 digs. Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) totaled 49 assists and 13 digs. Korin Koehler (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) added nine digs and two service aces.

Juniata returns to action tomorrow with a pair of matches. The Eagles play Geneva at 12:00 p.m. and wrap up with #7 Emory at 6:00 p.m.