HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The Juniata College women's volleyball team is hosting the 25th annual ASICS Tournament and capped the first night with a hard-fought, 3-2 win (21-25, 25-13, 25-12, 18-25, 15-6) over Ithaca, Friday evening in Memorial Gymnasium.
Rachel Boe (San Carlos, Calif./Saint Francis) had a team high 14 kills, Victoria Taylor (Middletown, DE/Delaware Military Academy) had 11 while Marybeth Weihbrecht (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) had seven. Alyssa Tavera (Whittier, Calif./La Salle H.S.) had 22 assists and 17 digs while Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa./Shenango H.S.) tallied five kills to go with her three aces. Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) had six kills, a solo block and a game-high five block assists. Dejia Danhi (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) had two solo blocks and three block assists.
Juniata opened the match by scoring nine of the first twelve points, with a Weihbrecht kill giving the Eagles a 9-3 lead. Ithaca took control from there and outscored Juniata 22-12 the rest of the way to win the first set.
Set two saw the teams stay even early, with the Bombers scoring three straight points to tie the score at 10-10. The Eagles took control from there, going on a 15-3 run to end the set and tie things up at 1-1 heading into the third set. They had their most kills in a set in the second with 13.
Juniata never trailed in the third set as they won 25-12 to take a 2-1 lead. They had their second-best hitting percentage of the match in the third set, hitting .385 as a team.
The fourth set was a back and forth battle, featuring eight ties with the final one at 17-17. Ithaca reeled off six straight points before Chelsea Scafuro (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) got a kill to try and stop the run, but the Bombers scored the final two points to force a decisive fifth set.
Tavera started the fifth with a high arcing serve that befuddled the Ithaca defense, causing two girls crash into each other trying to make a play on the ball. Gonsar made it 2-0 with a big crosscourt hit and Boe followed with a kill of her own to make it 3-0. Ithaca got two back before the Eagles went on a 6-0 run. The run was highlighted by two aces from Gonsar and an emphatic kill by Taylor. Ithaca managed to pull within five at 11-6, but the Eagles scored the final four points to seal the victory and remain unbeaten.
JC will play Messiah at 12:00 and Swarthmore at 6:00 tomorrow.
