THOUSAND OAKS, CA- The #1 Juniata women's volleyball team kicked off their west coast trip with a 3-0 victory over UC Santa Cruz Friday afternoon at Gilbert Arena. 

Set one was tight early, with the teams knotted at 6-6 before the Eagles put together a 9-2 run that featured aces from Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez and Mia Schubert, along with kills from Lily Podolan, Mackenzie Coley, and Kennedy Christy and errors from the Banana Slugs made it 18-10. UC Santa Cruz fought back to get within two at 20-18, but an error and a Rousset-Hernandez ace gave the Eagles some cushion, and they eventually took the set on another Banana Slug service error.

Rousset-Hernandez opened set two with four straight aces, and the Eagles came out on fire in set two as they raced out to a 13-4 lead. Later, with the score at 17-9, they rattled off seven straight points with a kill from Podolan, a block from Coley and Christy, a Coley kill, two kills from Christy, an ace from Schubert and an error from the Banana Slugs. Coley ended set two with a kill, 25-11. 

UC Santa Cruz tried their hardest to force a fourth set, leading late at 19-21. The Eagles were ready to end the match, however, with kills from Coley, Olivia Foley, Podolan, Schubert, and finally, an ace from Sophia Repholz gave JC match point. The Banana Slugs fought off match point once, but a ball-handling error ended the match, 25-22, to give Juniata their seventh win of the year. 

The Eagles have two matches tomorrow, as they will take on the University of Chicago at 1:00 EST and #4 Claremont Mudd Scripps at 7:00 EST.