St. LOUIS, MO.- The Juniata women's volleyball team will take on Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Elite 8 Thursday at 1:30 PM EST on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.
The winner of the Juniata-MIT matchup will advance to the Final 4 and face the winner of Wisconsin- Eau Claire-Tufts on Friday at 6:00 PM EST. On the other side of the bracket, Claremont Mudd-Scripps takes on Berry and will play the winner of Trinity (Tx) Calvin on Friday at 8:30 PM. EST. The National Championship game will be played on Saturday, November 20th at 8:00 PM EST.
How they got here:
Juniata enters the Elite 8 ranked at 31-1 and the number one overall seed, riding a 30 game winning streak and having won their 40th consecutive conference championship earlier this November. This is also the program's 40th appearance in the NCAA tournament, having appeared in every one since its inception. The Eagles are led by AVCA Second Team All-American outside Victoria Taylor (Middletown, Del. / Delaware Military Academy), who leads the team in kills (309), kills per set (3.77), points (329.0), and points per set (4.0). Olivia Foley (Coldwater, Mich / Coldwater HS), a fellow AVCA Second Team All-American, leads the team in assists (1046), assists per set (10.57), and is second in digs with 322. Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico / Colegio Bautista de Carolina HS) was an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and leads the squad in digs at 524, digs per set at 5.19, and is fourth in aces on the team with 34.
MIT, members of the NEWMAC Conference, enters the Elite 8 at 29-3, having won their seventh conference championship earlier this month. They defeated Eastern Nazarene College in the first round, Haverford College in the second round before besting Susquehanna in the Regional Final to punch their ticket to the Elite 8. The Engineers are led by AVCA Third Team All-American middle hitter Annie Bryan.
Series history:
Juniata is 3-1 all-time against MIT, with the first matchup back in 1984 that saw the teams square off in the NCAA Division III semifinals, where the Engineers pulled out a 3-2 win. In 1986, Juniata defeated MIT on their home floor in an invitational. Juniata won again in 1988 and then again in 1990, so it has been 31 seasons since these two teams have faced one another.
