Women's Volleyball Sweeps Eastern in Battle of the Eagles

WAYNE, Pa. – The Juniata College women's volleyball team swept Eastern, 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, 25-22), Friday evening.

Marybeth Weihbrecht (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) had nine kills and six solo blocks while Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) notched eight kills and two solo blocks. Christine Irwin (State College, Pa./State College) had seven kills while Dejia Danhi (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) had five kills and five block assists. Alyssa Tavera (Whittier, Calif./La Salle) had 18 assists and 11 digs. Korin Koehler (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) had a game-high four aces. 

The first set saw Eastern hold a narrow 5-7 edge Juniata took over, going on a 14-3 run capped by a Danhi kill which made it 19-10. Juniata cruised from there, taking the first set 25-15. 

The second set was closer, with Eastern creeping out to a three-point lead at 8-11, but Juniata hung around and narrowed the gap to 10-11 behind back to back kills from Weihbrecht. Eastern forged ahead, and managed to take a 15-21 lead. An Eastern serving error coupled with two aces from Koehler got Juniata within three at 18-21. Eastern called timeout to try and stem the comeback and took the first point after the timeout. Maroney smashed a kill before two Eastern attack errors pulled Juniata within one at 21-22. Eastern scored before another service error and a block by Danhi, Weihbrecht and Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) pulled Juniata even at 23-23. Eastern scored via a kill by Morgan Shemonski to go up 23-24. Gonsar notched another kill to tie it before Weihbrecht mashed two straight kills to end the set, 26-24.

Juniata never trailed in the third, but Eastern didn't make it easy for them as Eastern battled and pulled within two at 22-20. Kills from Weihbrecht and Moroney booked an Eastern point to make it 24-21. Eastern took the next point before Tavera setup Irwin for the final point as Juniata won, 25-22.

"Tonight was a good win in that we did not allow the other team to string us out to extra games," said head coach Heather Pavlik after the match. "We served tough and did not have a lot of errors. We were more resilient than we had shown earlier this season. We didn't go away when we feel behind in the second set, and found a way to come back to win."

JC will travel to Elizabethtown to open conference play against Moravian, tomorrow at 2:00.