Juniata Denied by Mary Washington in NCAA Regional Final 3-1

FREDERICKSBURG, Va.- In order to advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament, the Juniata women's volleyball team needed to knock off a young but talented Mary Washington group on Sunday afternoon. In front of a raucous crowd at Ron Rosner Arena, JC unfortunately saw its season end as UMW won 3-1 to move on to Elite 8.

Juniata saw itself fall behind early in the first set but slowly started to chip away at the UMW lead. Trailing 23-20, the Blue and Gold tallied three straight points on a kill and service ace by Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson Calif./Rolling Hills Prep) and an attack error by Mary Washington's Savannah Powers. A service error on Phillips followed by a kill from UMW's Rachel Hendricks gave the host school the two points it needed to take the set 25-23.

JC led 7-6 in the second set but Mary Washington recovered to go up 11-7. Juniata kept up with its opponent and trailed only 22-20. A set win was still within reach at 24-22 but Powers' kill ended the comeback and UMW won 25-22 to take a 2-0 match lead.

Juniata still had some fight and proved it as the Eagles raced out to a 6-0 lead in the third set. JC's lead grew to as much as 21-9.  Mary Washington inched its way back and got to 24-18 but Phillip's kill gave Juniata the win as it trailed 2-1 in the match.

The Blue and Gold tallied the first two points in the fourth frame but the host Eagles scored five straight times to go ahead 5-2. Juniata made the score 9-8 and again Mary Washington had an answer and went ahead by as much as 20-13. JC would not go away easy as a 7-4 run brought the score to 24-20. The match ended on Rachel Hendricks's kill as UMW took the set 25-20.

"I thought that we got sluggish starts in three of the four games that made us play at a deficit most of the way," said head coach Heather Pavlik, "I thought Mary Washington did a really good job with their serving and played really good defense."

Phillips was named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team along with Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim). Phillips led the Eagles with 15 kills on 30 swings to hit .367 for the afternoon. She added two solo and two assisted blocks. Gearhart had 12 kills, two service aces, and three assisted blocks.

Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) added nine kills, three digs, and one assisted block. Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) put up 39 assists, four digs, and two kills. Katie Byrne (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) totaled 14 digs with Shaina Robinett (York, Pa./Pa Leadership Charter School chipping in eight digs.

Juniata concludes its 2016 season with a final record of 26-7.