Eagles Sweep Gophers for 17th Straight Victory
HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The #2 Juniata women's volleyball team swept Goucher in three sets for their fifth conference victory of the season on Wednesday evening.
Juniata started the first 4-1 up off two Kennedy Christy kills. After the Gophers got one back, the Eagles put up 11 unanswered in a run that included six service aces from Christy to draw a 15-2 lead. The Gophers put three on the board to make it 18-5, but two Sydney Ohl aces, two Audrey Muth kills, and attacking errors from the Gophers guided Juniata to a set win at 25-6 with a .579 hitting percentage.
Juniata quickly went 8-1 up in the second set before meeting resistance from Goucher that saw the Gophers get back to 11-6. Two errors from Goucher and a service ace from Abbey Telesz made it 14-6. The gap remained consistent until the Eagles put up six straight to get to match point at 24-9 with two kills from Mia Schubert. A Juniata attacking error gave Goucher a point before a Lexy Bloss kill ended the set at 25-10.
The sides swapped points early at 2-2 before Juniata posted eight unanswered points for an 11-1 lead following four consecutive attacking errors from Goucher and three Schubert kills. Schubert posted three more kills in the middle stages as Juniata pushed their lead to 13 at 17-4. Juniata continued to dominate, and the set ended on a Goucher attacking error at 25-6.
Christy had a career-high six service aces, all coming within the first set. Schubert had a team-high ten kills and a .500 hitting percentage across the two sets she played in. Aly Reardon was also a key part of the Juniata attack, with seven kills and a .538 hitting percentage.
Defensively, Bloss had two solo blocks and three block assists, while Ohl totaled three service aces and a team-high ten digs.
Head Coach Heather Pavlik was honored prior to the game for earning her 300th career victory in Saturday's match against York in the Wid Guisler Invitational.
The Eagles conclude the regular season with a pair of conference matches in Bethlehem against Moravian and Scranton. Juniata is 51-0 against the Greyhounds and 37-2 against the Royals. Winning both matches on Saturday secures the #1 seed for the Landmark Conference tournament, with the semi-finals slated for Wednesday, November 2.