CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Juniata women's volleyball team put forth a dominant start to their season with a sweep of the Cortland Red Dragon Classic. The Eagles went 4-0 defeating Cortland, Vassar, Oneonta, and Fredonia.
Three Eagles received All-Tournament Team honors—junior Marybeth Weihbrecht (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley), freshman Victoria Taylor (Middletown, DE/Delaware Miilitary Academy), and senior Megan Moroney (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor). Weihbrecht led the team with 34 kills throughout the tournament, recording 14 in her performance against Fredonia. Taylor also logged 14 kills against Fredonia, putting up a total of 30 kills for the weekend. Moroney saw the court in two matches and totaled four service aces and 18 kills, 10 of which came against Cortland.
Junior Katie Byrne (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) recorded eight service aces and 99 total digs. Byrne logged 33 digs against Fredonia.
Newcomer to the court, Alyssa Tavera (Whittier, Calif./La Salle HS), totaled 67 assists throughout the tournament. 24 of her assists came against Fredonia.
After dropping the first set of the tournament to Cortland, the Eagles buckled down and came back to win the match 3-1 (17-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20). Juniata went on to sweep both Vassar and Oneonta 3-0 before being edged out by Fredonia in the first set of the team's last match of the tournament. The Eagles again settled in for a 3-1 victory (27-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-18) to round out the weekend.
Juniata will return to action Friday, Sept. 8, to host the ASICS Invitational at home. The team's first match will take place Friday at 7:00pm against Ithaca. The Eagles will then take on Messiah and Swarthmore on Saturday.
