HUNTINGDON, PA- Women's volleyball faced a tough opponent in #17 Eastern University. The two teams were tied 1-1 after two sets but the visitors came back to take the next two to win 3-1 (27-25, 18-25, 28-26, 25-20) on Friday night at the Wid Guidler Invitational.

Amelia Kepler (Kane, PA/Kane Area) tallied 13 kills for the Eagles. Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, PA/Greencastle-Antrim) added 11 kills and had three service aces. Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, CA/Rolling Hills Prep) chipped in nine kills. Lydia Mueller (Carlisle, PA/Carisle) added eight kills with Megan Moroney (Mentor, OH/Mentor) adding seven. Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, PA/Upper Saint Clair) totaled 38 assists.

On the defensive end, Brittani Young (Columbia, PA/Hempfield Area) led the way with 14 digs. Mueller contributed 13 digs and had three assisted blocks. Reynolds added 11 digs. Bryce Arnold (Shippensburg, PA/Shippensburg Area) contributed nine digs. Moroney's five assisted blocks tied a season-high.

Juniata had control in the first set as it led 18-11. The big lead quickly disappeared as EU rallied to tie the set on two occasions. With JC at set point, Gabrielle Ooyama (Fairport, NY/Fairport) hit into a service error to tie the game at 25-25. Eastern then took its first lead of the night on an attack error by Kepler and won on a kill by Katrina Pisch.

Much like the first set, JC led for the majority of the second set. The Eagles led by as much as 13-5 but Eastern again would rally and chip into the Juniata lead. The two teams were deadlocked at 18-18 but seven straight points from JC gave the Eagles the win and the match was tied 1-1.

In the third game, it was Eastern that led early on. EU was up 11-7 before Juniata stormed back to go ahead 18-14. Eastern battled to tie and then go up 20-19. The two teams would battle back and forth and trade points. JC led 26-25 and was looking to take match point but three consecutive kills from Erin Hillman spurred Eastern to a 28-26 win.

EU led 14-9 in the fourth game. A 6-0 Juniata rally gave the Eagles a 15-14 advantage.  It would be its last lead of the set as Eastern went on a 11-5 to close out the set and take the match.

Juniata returns the court tomorrow afternoon on the second day of competition. The Eagles face Carnegie Mellon at 1 p.m. and wrap up with Stevenson at 5 p.m.