Women's Volleyball Soars Past #19 Wittenberg, Beloit to Open the Year 3-0

BALTIMORE, Md.- The #1 Juniata women's volleyball team picked up two victories on the day as they defeated #19 Wittenberg, 3-1 (25-21, 31-29, 16-25, 25-17), before sweeping Beloit 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-7) Saturday afternoon at the Newton H. White Center.  

In set one against Wittenberg, Juniata built a 13-8 lead before five straight points by the Tigers tied things up. The teams traded points, with Wittenberg eventually nudging ahead 17-18. A service error by the Tigers and kills from Kennedy Christy and Mackenzie Coley put Juniata back ahead by two, and they saw out the win the rest of the way, with a final kill from Coley ending set one, 25-21.  

Set two was a barnburner, with Wittenberg using a late four-point run to overtake the Eagles, 21-19. JC countered with a 4-1 run of their own and fought to reach set point on a Lily Podolan kill, 24-23. The Tigers fought off five more set points before a kill from Coley was followed by a Podolan ace to end the second set, 31-29.  

Wittenberg had their second most effective set offensively (.259), while Juniata had their worst (.148) as the Tigers claimed set three, 16-25.  

In the fourth set, trailing 8-10, Juniata rattled off eight of the next nine to lead by five, 16-11, as Olivia Foley's ace capped the run. The Eagles cruised from there, winning on a Wittenberg attack error, 25-17.

Courtney Williams had an efficient day hitting the ball, as she had 12 kills on 18 swings with no errors (.667). Audrey Muth tallied 13 kills (.345) with a dig and a block assist. Foley contributed 42 assists, three kills, an ace, and 11 digs, while Mia Schubert tacked on two kills, three assists, two aces, 11 digs, and a block assist. 

The second match of the day saw the Eagles dominate across all three sets as they held Beloit to negative hitting in all three sets. 

Set one saw the Eagles use a late 7-0 run that featured three Christy aces to lead 21-8. Juniata eventually took set one on an ace from Sophia Repholz. 

Set two saw the Eagles score nine straight points to go from a 9-7 lead to 18-7 as Schubert and Emily Sullivan each added two kills during the run, and Maggie Hayes combined with Schubert for a block. 

The Eagle offense peaked in the final set as they hit .650 and held Beloit to -.188 to take set three, 25-7. 

Schubert had eight kills (.429) with an ace, four digs, and two block assists. Simone Barry had four kills (.300), an ace, and six block assists, while Jacqueline Bryant was perfect with six kills on six swings to go with an ace, a dig, and a block assist. Sydney Ohl added seven assists, five aces, and ten digs. Ava Gummer was also a perfect three kills on three swings to go with a block assist. Lacie Brown had a team-high 13 assists to go with a kill, an ace, three digs, and a block assist, while Abbey Telesz tallied 11 assists and seven digs. Hayes totaled three kills (.333) to go with two block assists. Sullivan contributed three kills and three block assists.

The Eagle's win streak stands at 30 consecutive victories, spanning back to last season, and they will open the ASICS Invitational at home next Friday at 3:00 p.m. when they take on Christopher Newport in a rematch of last year's Sweet 16 matchup.