ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team swept Eastern, 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-17), Friday evening on the campus of Eastern University.
The opening set saw Juniata jump out to a 17-10 lead after a kill from Dejia Danhi (Ashburn, Va. / Stone Bridge). Eastern responded with a 5-0 run to narrow the JC lead to two. Another Danhi kill followed by an ace from Aly Reardon (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West HS) forced EU to call a timeout. It was to no avail as Reardon served up another ace after the break and followed with a kill. A block from Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa. / Penn Manor) and Danhi combined with a block from Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango H.S.) and Danhi made it 23-15. Eastern got within five before a kill from Danhi gave JC set point and a block from Edwards and Emma Davis (East Berlin, Pa / Dover Area HS) ended set one.
Juniata completely dominated the second set as they went up 17-6 and cruised to a 25-12 set two win. JC hit .357 in the set and held the hosts to .030.
The third set was tighter early as Eastern used a kill to grab a 7-8 lead. Three errors by Eastern and an ace from Sophia Gingrich (Minneapolis, Minn. / Minneapolis Southwest H.S.) made it 11-8 and EU called a timeout, but JC just kept coming. Gingrich tallied another ace, Danhi and Edwards notched a kill apiece before a Juniata ball handling error halted the run for a moment. Kills from Danhi and Reardon along with a block from Edwards and Danhi push the lead to 17-9. Eastern again mounted a 5-0 run to get within three before three kills from Davis along with one from Lauren Levi (Oregon City, Ore. / Oregon City HS) made it 21-15. EU twice more before Juniata closed them out to win, 25-17.
Juniata will host Johns Hopkins, next Friday at 7:00.