Eagles Silence Quack of the Ducks to Move on to Sweet 16

HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The #1 Juniata women's volleyball team advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 by sweeping Stevens Institute of Technology, 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-16), Friday evening at Memorial Gymnasium. 

With the score at 5-6, Kennedy Christy smashed a ball from the back row to the game at 6-6. This catapulted the Eagles on a 9-0 run, with Audrey Muth putting a ball down out of system, Lily Podolan smashing the ball off the block as it narrowly went past the pin, with another Podolan kill capping the run. The Ducks hung around, getting back within five at 22-17. A block by Courtney Williams and Muth, and eventually a Mackenzie Coley kill that landed in the back middle of the Duck defense, ended set one, 25-18. 

Juniata hit .450 in the second set while Stevens hit -.148 and committed 11 errors as the Eagles scored 17 of the final 18 points in the set, with Muth crushing a ball of the block that flew over the outstretched hands of their back row defender to end set two, 25-11. 

JC's early 9-1 run that included a pair of Sydney Ohl aces put the Eagles ahead 17-8, but the Ducks didn't quit. They got back within four, 19-15, but the Eagles gave themselves some breathing room with kills from Coley, Williams, and Muth. The Ducks scored once more before Wiliams smacked another ball into the floor, Stevens committed an attacking error, and Podolan tallied her ninth kill of the match to end it. 

Juniata's winning streak sits at 58 as they advance to their sixth Sweet 16 under head coach Heather Pavlik. 

The Eagles will take on the two-seeded University of Mary Washington tomorrow at 7:00.