ELIZABETHTOWN Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team closed the regular season with a pair of victories over Scranton, 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-16), and Elizabethtown, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-14) Saturday afternoon inside Thompson Gymnasium. The Eagles finish the regular season a perfect 7-0 in the Landmark and lock up the #1 seed in the Landmark Tournament.
Set one opened with the Eagles taking the opening four points through an ace by Olivia Foley (Coldwater, Mich / Coldwater HS), two kills from Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy), and a block by Lily Podolan (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington Kilbourne) and Grace Erskine (Mooresville, N.C. / Community School of Davidson). The Royals hung around for most of the rest of the set, but JC managed to keep them at bay and win 25-20.
Set two was closer, with the teams constantly tied early on and the Royals even leading in the middle part of the set, 15-16. Following a timeout, Juniata took over as they used an error and an ace from McKenna Walker (York, Pa. / York Catholic) to retake the lead. Scranton momentarily tied it on a kill before Mackenzie Coley (Norco, Calif. / Norco HS) put down two straight kills and paired with Foley for a block to push the JC advantage to three. The Royals got on back, but JC closed on a five-0 run, with an Erskine kill ending it.
In the final set, with the score at 6-6, the Eagles catapulted ahead with a 6-0 and never looked back as they took the final set 25-16 on another block by Erskine and Foley.
Taylor hit .520 with 14 kills, while Erskine had eight kills while hitting .462 to go with four block assists. Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico / Colegio Bautista de Carolina HS) had 18 digs and an assist, while Foley tallied 32 assists, two aces, two block assists, and three digs.
Against Elizabethtown in the opening set, the teams traded runs, with the Blue Jays tallying three straight to make it 12-12. Juniata reeled off eight straight to put themselves in the driver's seat. Foley got a kill along with two aces and a Blue Jay attack error, Taylor & Podolan and Kennedy Christy (Saxonburg, Pa. / Knoch HS) got a kill apiece before a block by Podolan and Erskine closed the run to make it 20-12. JC wounded up winning 25-18 on a kill by Rousset-Hernandez.
In the second set, with the score at 3-4, blocks by Podolan and Erskine followed by another from Podolan and Mackenzie along with three straight errors from Elizabethtown made it 8-4. The teams traded points, with Etown getting within two a few times and within three for the last time at 18-15. Walker served up two straight aces, and the Blue Jays committed two more errors to make it 22-15. The Eagles took set two on another Taylor kill, 25-18.
Juniata hit a match-high .317 with 18 kills as they dominated the second half of the set, closing the match on a 17-6 run to win the match 25-14.
The Eagles are the #1 seed in the Landmark Tournament and will host the #4 seed Susquehanna River Hawks in the semifinals this Wednesday at 7:00 inside Memorial Gymnasium.
