MIDDLETOWN, Conn.- The Juniata women's volleyball team closed the Wesleyan Invitational with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-10, 25-17) win over Trinity (Conn.), Saturday afternoon at Silloway Gymnasium.
The opening set was a back and forth affair as the Eagles got an early lead and then quickly fell behind the Bantams, 17-12. A two errors by Trinity, two kills by Marie Gonsar (New Castle, Pa. / Shenango H.S.) and one from Emma Davis (East Berlin, Pa / Dover Area HS) tied things at 17-17. The Bantams went back up by three before two straight errors and back to back kills from Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy) put Juniata back up by one, 21-20. Following a Trinity timeout, the Bantams took two of the next three points to make it 22-22. A Taylor kill and two more errors by Trinity ended the first set, 25-22.
The second set saw the Eagles hit a blistering .619 as they built a 16-6 lead midway through the set. The Bantams closed the lead to six, 16-10 but that was their final points of the set. Kills from Davis and Taylor along with solo blocks from Davis and Abigail Luensmann (Altoona, Pa. / Bellwood-Antis H.S.) and a Bantam attack error made it 21-10. A kill from Morgan Edwards (Lancaster, Pa. / Penn Manor), an ace from Gonsar and a bad set from Trinity gave the Eagles set point before Taylor ended it with another kill, 25-10.
Trinity jumped out to an early lead in the third set, with a kill making it 10-13. An attack error by the Bantams, an ace by McKenna Walker (York, Pa. / York Catholic) and a block by Edwards and Dejia Danhi (Ashburn, Va. / Stone Bridge) tied the score at 13-13. Trinity called timeout, but it couldn't stop the Eagles. Edwards tallied two kills around one from Gonsar, Danhi and Edwards combined for another block, Walker tallied another ace and Danhi combined with Gonsar for a block to make it 19-13. Trinity called time out again, but Gonsar and Danhi tallied two more kills before the Bantams could tally a point as JC led 21-14. Trinity got within five, 22-17 before two Davis kills gave Juniata match point and Sophia Gingrich (Minneapolis, Minn. / Minneapolis Southwest H.S.) sent the Eagles on their way back home with an ace to win the match, 25-17.
The Eagles will host Elizabethtown, Wednesday at 7:00.