HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Second-ranked Juniata College trailed at various times in all three games, but rallied when it needed to on its way to a thrilling three-game victory over #7 University of La Verne (Calif.), to close out Friday's first day of action at Juniata's Wid Guisler Invitational women's volleyball tournament in Huntingdon, Pa.
Game scores were 30-28, 30-27, and 32-30.
"It was very different to play a high quality opponent at home," said Juniata head coach Larry Bock. "I think we've gotten to be a good road team, and today was a good first step toward being a good home team."
The Eagles clinched the match on a block by Beth Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area) and Erin Albert (Philipsburg, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola), following Brittany Carr's (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) service with the score 31-30.
Juniata had trailed La Verne 23-22 earlier in game three, before an Albert kill knotted the game at 23-23. The Eagles took the lead for good on the ensuing service by Molly Sollenberger (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), which resulted in kills by Amber Thomas (Ephrata, Pa./Conestoga Valley) and Albert.
In game two, La Verne had a 26-25 lead over Juniata in the late stages of the game. However four kills by Carr and a service ace by Megan Sollenberger (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) vaulted Juniata into a 29-27 lead, and Paige Johnston (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) sealed the win with one of her 11 kills on the night.
"Brittany (Carr) and Paige (Johnston) were heroic tonight. When we needed a kill desperately, we were getting them from the outside – and that's Page and Brittany," said Bock.
The tone for the night was set right from the start of game one, with neither squad able to sustain a lead larger than a couple of points. Juniata managed to extend its lead to 26-22 late in the game, but the Leopards battled back to eventually pull even with the Eagles, 28-28. With Megan Sollenberger serving, Thomas and Megan Lamens (Schellsburg, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) posted kills on the final two points to seal the Juniata win.
Thomas finished the night with a team-high 18 kills and 12 digs, with Lamens matching Johnston's total with 11 terminations. Kozak tallied 53 assists, and Jessica Ritchey (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had a team-high 15 digs.
"La Verne is just continuing to get better and better," said Bock. "That's a team I don't really want to see at the end of the season, but I know they're going to be there. We need to be prepared to see them deep into the post-season.
"They have a lot of firepower. We were extremely fortunate to win that match," said Bock.
In other first day scores at the 2007 Wid Guisler Invitational:
#7 La Verne def. Eastern, 3-1 (30-9, 30-15, 33-35, 30-21)
#11 Cal State-East Bay def. Carnegie Mellon, 3-1 (24-30, 30-18, 30-28, 31-29)
#11 Cal State-East Bay def. Eastern, 3-1 (29-31, 30-20, 30-22, 30-17)
Competition resumes on Saturday, Oct. 20, starting at 11:00 a.m. Juniata will play Eastern University in the day's first game, and will face #11 Cal State-East Bay at 3:00 p.m. In other matches, Carnegie Mellon will face La Verne at 11:00 a.m.; La Verne will battle Cal State-Bay and Carnegie Mellon will clash with Eastern at 1:00 p.m.
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