HUNTINGDON, Pa- The Juniata women's volleyball team has had a similar lede for 67 game recaps as they defeated Swarthmore 3-0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-15), thus breaking the record for consecutive wins in Division III women's volleyball with their 67th straight victory.
It is the third longest streak across all of women's collegiate volleyball as Concordia St Paul (Division II) is second all-time at 75 (2008-2010), and Penn State is number one at 109 (2007-2010).
Before the match, the 2004 Juniata women's volleyball team had won the program's first NCAA Division III National Championship was recognized for their 20-year anniversary. The team went 37-3, winning their final 20 matches, and dropped eight sets all season. They defeated one of their biggest rivals, Washington University in St. Louis in the National Championship 3-0.
The squad racked up the accolades including Head Coach Larry Bock being named AVCA National Coach of the Year, and Carli Dale Lehr was named AVCA Player of the Year. Three members of the team were named AVCA All-Americans, and four were named AVCA All-Region.
Trailing 4-6 early, the Eagles capitalized on a 12-2 run that saw them retake the lead, 16-8, as Kennedy Christy closed the run with a kill. The run never really stopped, as Juniata dropped just three more points the rest of the way to take set one, 25-11, on the Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez ace.
Juniata continued to cruise, exploding into set two with a 17-5 that was capped by kills from Maggie Hayes and Maeve Edmund. A Hayes kill would eventually end the set, 25-14.
Set three was a tighter affair, with Juniata holding a narrow lead at 17-14. A kill by Olivia Foley, followed by two straight blocks by her and Courtney Williams and kills from Audrey Muth and Molly Mishinkash, put the Eagles up eight. A service error momentarily broke the momentum. But a service ace and two more Muth kills ended the match, 25-15.
Before the match, the 2004 Juniata women's volleyball team that won the program's first NCAA Division III National Championship was recognized for their 20-year anniversary. The team went 37-3 that season, winning their final 20 matches. They defeated one of their biggest rivals, Washington University in St. Louis in the National Championship 3-0.
The squad racked up the accolades including Head Coach Larry Bock being named AVCA National Coach of the Year, and Carli Dale Lehr was named AVCA Player of the Year. Three members of the team were named AVCA All-Americans, and four were named AVCA All-Region.
Juniata returns to action next Friday in hostile territory as they will take on #2 Hope, the team they upended in the National Championship last year, in Holland, Michigan, at 6:30.
