Eagles Soar Past Greyhounds Into Landmark Championships, Moroney Gets 1000th Kill

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team advanced to the Landmark Conference Championships for the eleventh straight time with a 3-0 sweep of Moravian, Wednesday evening at Memorial Gymnasium.

Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) tallied her 1000^th kill as she racked up 11 kills, an ace and a block while hitting .917 for the match (11 of 12). Marybeth Weihbrecht (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) tallied 13 kills and a block assist while Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) notched seven kills, two solo blocks and a block assist. Alyssa Tavera (Whittier, Calif./La Salle HS) had 25 assists while Katie Thomas (Batesville, Ind./Batesville) had 17.

The match opened with the Greyhounds hanging around early and pulling within one at 10-9. Juniata scored the next three points, capped by a big swing from Moroney from the right side that made it 13-9 and forced a Moravian timeout. Juniata continued to roll, and another Moroney kill later made it 17-11. The Greyhounds did not go away, and battled back to retake the lead at 18-19. The teams traded points to make it 19-20. A kill from Weihbrecht tied things at 20-20. An error by the Greyhounds, a block from Weihbrecht and Edwards, a kill from Weihbrecht followed by a Edwards solo block gave the Eagles set point. Edwards ended the set with a kill as the Eagles took set one. 

Juniata jumped out to an 8-3 lead to open the second set and kept the Greyhounds at bay from there. Later in the set, back to back Moravian errors made it 18-11 as they took timeout. Juniata closed the set on a 7-1 run as Rachel Boe (San Carlos, Calif./Saint Francis) smashed a kill off a Thomas pass to end set two. 

Juniata again built a lead to open the third set, with a Moroney kill make it 7-3 and putting her two away from her 1,000. Moravian took the next point but kills from Moroney (one away), Chelsea Scafuro (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) and a Greyhound error made it 10-4 as Moravian called timeout. Two kills from Weihbrecht and some Moravian errors pushed the Eagle lead to 16-8. The Greyhounds made it 17-12 before Moroney smashed her 1,000^th kill and and made it 18-12. The teams traded points as Moravian could not get closer than five until a kill and an ace made it 23-19. Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) gave Juniata match point but Moravian fought off elimination at 24-20. Moroney placed a ball past the block to earn the sweep and send Juniata to the Landmark Championship for an 11^th straight year.

The Eagles will host Scranton, who they lost to 3-2 in the regular season, Saturday at 7:00.