Eagles Defuse #15 Bombers

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team swept #15 Ithaca, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-22), Friday evening in Memorial Gymnasium on the opening night of the annual ASICS Tournament.  

It was a tightly contested opening set as neither team could claim much of a lead. The Bombers went up by three, 13-16 and JC called a timeout. The Eagles wound up tied things up via an Ithaca service error before kills from Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango H.S.) and Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy) put the Eagles up two and forced the visitors to call a timeout. The teams went back and forth with Ithaca pulling within two at 21-23 before another Bomber error gave the eagles set point and an ace from Taylor ended set one 25-21. 

The second set saw Juniata fall behind by as many as four points early, but they narrowed the gap to two before a 7-0 run put them ahead for good. Things started with a Bomber service error before Sophia Gingrich (Minneapolis, Minn. / Minneapolis Southwest H.S.) notched a service ace and a kill. Another Ithaca attack error was followed by a Gonsar kill made it 15-12 and the Bombers called a timeout. After the timeout, Gonsar tallied another kill before combining with Emma Davis (East Berlin, Pa / Dover Area HS) for a block to make it 17-12. Ithaca never got closer than four the rest of the way as Juniata claimed set two on a Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa. / Penn Manor) kill, 25-18. 

The third set was again tight early until the Eagles blew it open. With the score 11-10, a kill from Moira Folan (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Oakland Catholic HS), an Ithaca bad set, a block from Gonsar and Davis followed by a block from Davis and Folan made it 15-10. The Bombers claimed the next point before they committed two errors and a block from Taylor and Kailyn Pyle (Reading, Pa. / Liberty HS) made it 18-11. Ithaca didn't go away, however, as they managed to get within one several times, scoring two straight to make it 23-22. But JC claimed the final two points as they won on a service error, 25-22.  

The Eagles will take on Swarthmore at 1:30 tomorrow.