NEWPORT NEWS, VA – It was a battle of two of the top teams in Division-III as the No. 4 Juniata Eagles defeated the No. 3 Christopher Newport Captains 3-2 (25-11,25-22,22-25,24-26,15-8) Friday night. Juniata is now 9-0 on the season after handing the Captains (10-1) their first loss.
Juniata jumped ahead early and took a stand with a 25-11 win in the first set.
The Captains would keep the score much closer the remainder of the match. Sets two and three would finish with the same score of 25-22, with Juniata taking the upper hand in the second set and Christopher Newport taking the third.
In the fourth set, the Captains reached set point before Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, PA / Greencastle-Antrim) got the kill and tied it up at 24. Despite the effort, Christopher Newport took set four and forced a fifth and final set.
Last season, the two teams met in Huntingdon, PA and faced a similar situation. Juniata took the first two sets and Christopher Newport went on to tie the match. The Captains won the fifth set 15-12 in 2014 but 2015 would tell a different tale.
"I think we've grown up a lot from last year," head coach Heather Pavlik said. "We were extremely young and didn't always know how to be resilient."
When Christopher Newport was down by two sets, they upped their level of play and fed off the energy in the gym created by their fans and pep band.
"Really good teams will fight back when their backs are against the wall," Pavlik said. "This is a tough place to play in and the team needs to experience that so they can learn to mentally handle it."
The Eagles stood strong in the fifth and took an early 3-0 lead. With the game tied at six, Juniata started to go on a run. At a run of three points, Christopher Newport called a timeout but the Eagles weren't phased and continued their run to go up 12-6. Two points to the Captains resulted in a timeout by Juniata.
The Eagles got two of their three final points from Glen Brumm (Oro Valley, AZ / Canyon Del Oro). Brumm had the kill to make it 13-8 Juniata and the service ace that set up match point. She totaled four service aces on the night. Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, PA / Upper Saint Clair) and Megan Moroney (Mentor, OH / Mentor) would make the blocks to force an attack error by Christopher Newport that would end the match.
"Passing and serving was the difference in that last set," Pavlik said. "We did well in the first two but CNU was a lot more aggressive in the third and fourth sets."
Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, CA / Rolling Hills Preparatory) led Juniata with 15 kills and 29 total attacks for a .345 hitting percentage. Gearhart finished with a .400 hitting percentage, 12 kills, 25 attacks and five blocks. Moroney also finished with 12 kills and five blocks.
Bryce Arnold (Shippensburg, PA / Shippensburg Area) recorded eight service aces, four of which came at the end of the fifth set that helped secure the victory for Juniata.
"Bryce was huge for us tonight," Pavlik said. "She did a really good job with everything. She served extremely well, was great on defense, passing and overall had solid ball control."
Juniata continues play in the Christopher Newport Invitational Saturday at noon against Averett.
