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Women's Volleyball Falls in Five at the Final Four, Ending Magical Season
November 19, 2021

Women's Volleyball Falls in Five at the Final Four, Ending Magical Season

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ST. LOUIS, Mo.- The Juniata women's volleyball team played an electric NCAA Final Four semi-final game against the Wisconsin Eau Claire Blugolds on Friday night. After career-highs from multiple Eagles, long rallies, and tough-fought points, the Eagles fell to the Blugolds 3-2 (25-20, 28-30, 25-20, 19-25, 13-15), fighting to the very last point of the fifth set. 

The opening set, just like each set following, was neck and neck between the two teams. Opening up the scoring was no one other than Juniata's Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy) drilling the ball to the back right corner of the court. Eau Claire caught up 10-6 before the Eagles, then put up five straight points to jump ahead 11-10. 

Tied 14-14, Taylor clocked in with her sixth kill of the night just in the first set of play. Eagles gained momentum at the end of set one after two kills in three plays by Mackenzie Coley (Norco, Calif. / Norco HS) paired with Taylor taking points 23 and 24 for the Eagles. After a long set-point rally, the Blugolds overshot the backline to secure Juniata's win for set one 25-20. 

 The Blugolds were ahead most of the second set, but the Eagles did not back down. After back-to-back Coley kills, an attack error and another kill from Coley, Aly Reardon (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West HS) finished off the five-point rally with a bullet down the left line to tie the set 10-10. 

 Grace Erskine (Mooresville, N.C. / Community School of Davidson) caught on to the point streak trend as she put three up on the board herself to push the score to 21-19, JC. 

Eau Claire pushed back on the Eagles, forcing extra points, which eventually resulted in a 30-28 second set score in favor of the Blugolds, tying it 1-1.

The Eagles came back the third set after being down five points, and they began the climb with another five-point surge to put the score at 6-6. The teams consistently matched each other until the Eagles got comfortably ahead by two after Taylor's 21st kill of the night. 

The Eagles then took off, pushing ahead of their opponent. The Blugolds ended the set easily for the Eagles with a service error and an attack error to put the third set score to 25-20, Juniata. 

Once again, the fourth set was tight until the last few points. Juniata got a head start on the scoreboard, starting with a Taylor kill, Sydney Ohl (Dallastown, Pa. / Dallastown Area) serving up an ace, and topping it off with an Erskine kill to put the Eagles up 4-1.

Once the ball was back in Juniata's possession, Olivia Foley (Coldwater, Mich / Coldwater HS) joined the ace train to push the score 6-2. Both Coley and Taylor put up career-highs in kills during the fourth set. After a Kennedy Christy (Saxonburg, Pa. / Knoch HS) diving dig to keep the ball alive, Foley was able to set Coley up for her 10th kill of the night, which made it 11-9 JC. Foley also fed Taylor to smash her career-high 25th kill to put 13-12 on the scoreboard. Foley was her dependable self for JC as she recorded a career-high 55 assists. 

The Blugolds then made a run after a tied score at 17, ending the fourth 25-19 to tie the game up 2-2. 

The Eagles went into the fifth set with it being only the second time a team has taken them to five sets all season, the last team being Babson in the Regional Final. The defense was tested all game as Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico / Colegio Bautista de Carolina HS) amassed 34 digs on the night, with McKenna Walker (York, Pa. / York Catholic) chipping in with 20 of her own.

The final set of the Juniata women's volleyball season was down to the wire as the Eagles never gave up. With Juniata trailing by two at 6-4, Christy was tested in the backline with two kill attempts drilled at her back to back, and she handled both with ease to allow Lily Podolan (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington Kilbourne) to seize the point for the Eagles with a kill, bringing them within one at 5-6. 

Coley had back-to-back kills in the seventh and eighth points for the Eagles, recording her career-high 13th kill. That kill started a streak for the Eagles as Taylor unleashed two huge kills for her team, tying the game at 10-10. 

Eau Claire responded with three straight points, including one ace, to put them ahead 13-10. Taylor took the last two points of the Juniata women's volleyball 2021 season as she put down her career-high 28th and 29th kills of the game. Her last kill of the game touched the hands of almost every single one of her teammates on the court before she smacked it down on the Bluegolds to put the score at 14-13.

Eau Claire ended up winning on the next point, 15-13. 

Although they will not be competing in the championship match Saturday night, the 2021 Juniata women's volleyball team came off of an odd 2020 season, came together, and had yet another legendary season. Being the first Division III program to reach 1500 wins (totaling 1529), winning their 40th consecutive conference championship and 14th consecutive Landmark Conference Championship, being crowned NCAA Regional Champions, making the program's 26th Final Four appearance, and countless individual records, the Eagles have no reason not to hold their heads high after this season. 

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