FREDERICKSBURG, Va.- Juniata women's volleyball began its journey to the 2016 NCAA Championship on Friday afternoon as it played Meredith College in the first round on the campus of Mary Washington. The Eagles defeated the Avenging Angels 3-0 (25-18, 25-9,25-21) to advance.
Meredith took a 3-1 lead early on in the first set but Juniata recovered with a 5-0 run to go up 6-3. The JC lead grew to 11-5 but the Avenging Angels were able to get to 13-11. An 8-3 Eagle run increased the Juniata advantage to 22-14. Meredith narrowed the deficit to 23-18 but a kill by Suzanne Gloekler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) and an attack error by Meredith's Caroline Corey gave Juniata the last two points it needed to take the set and lead the match 1-0.
JC dominated in set two. The Eagles scored the first four points of the frame and used an 8-2 run to lead 12-3. With the set standing at 14-7, Juniata ran off an 11-2 run to to win the set and lead 2-0.
Meredith got out to a 5-0 lead in the third set before the Eagles registered their first point on an attack error on by Corey. The Avenging Angels' lead stood at 7-3 but a 10-4 Eagle run gave Juniata a 13-11 lead. Meredith would get to within one point of tying, 15-14, but a 7-1 JC run increased the Eagle advantage to 22-15. The Avenging Angels got to within three points three times but after the final time, Gloekler ended it with a kill to give Juniata the win.
Juniata and Meredith had never played each other prior to today. Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) said after the match that there was not that much of a difference in the team's approach coming into today. She gave credit to the coaching staff for helping the team prepare for an unfamiliar opponent.
Moroney led the Juniata offense with 10 kills and hit .368. Mar-Jana Phillips (Carson, Calif./Rolling Hills Prep) added seven kills. Kelly Reynolds (Upper Saint Clair, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) put up 30 assists. Katie Byrne's (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) 15 digs was a team-high. Phillips chipped in three block assists with Moroney and Nakita Gearhart (Waynesboro, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) both contributed two block assists each.
"I thought it was up and down from our standpoint and that we settled in in the middle of the match," said head coach Heather Pavlik afterwards. "I think we were a little nervous coming out of the gate and that we got a little sloppy in the third but the middle of the match was pretty good."
The Eagles will play Johns Hopkins tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The two teams last met on October 14 in Huntingdon with Juniata taking the match 3-0.
