PITTSBURGH, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team won 3-1 against Hope College to advance to the national semifinals Thursday evening at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
Juniata had it all working in the opening set as seven different Eagles registered a kill, with Lily Podolan feasting all set to the tune of six kills on .545. She started the match with a powerful cross-court kill. The teams were even early, as a Hope kill made it five apiece. An Audrey Muth kill, followed by an Olivia Foley dump and a Flying Dutch error, saw their coach call a timeout. That did little to stop Juniata, as Courtney Williams tallied a kill to make it 9-5 following the break in action. Hope took the next point, but the Eagles came quickly for the following four. Williams and Muth's kills bookended a Hope attack error, a block from Williams and Podolan to make it 13-6. Hope got back within five but kills from Podolan and Mackenzie Coley, paired with a block by the pair, pushed the lead back to eight (17-9). Hope called their second timeout to try and slow down the Eagle onslaught that saw the team hitting .500. Hope got a kill coming out of the time before Kennedy Christy smashed a ball, and Coley said no with a solo block to make it 19-10. Hope's final point of the set came at 22-16, Podolan got another kill, Sydney Ohl's ace gave JC set point and a massive block by Williams, and Podolan ended set one 25-16.
Set two opened with the Flying Dutch appearing to be in control as they surged ahead 6-10, with the Eagles scraping for each of those six points. Juniata began to find a rhythm offensively through kills from the usual suspects of Christy, Coley, and Podolan. The teams traded points, with an Eagle service error pushing Hope ahead 11-12, but that would be their final lead of the set. An error from the Flying Dutch tied it, Muth tallied two straight kills, and Coley capped the run with a kill of her own at 16-12. Hope hung around, and two late errors from Juniata made it 21-20. Podolan doubled the lead, and a Foley dump was followed by a McKenna Walker ace that gave the Eagles set point. Hope fought off two set points before Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez plopped a ball in the middle of the Hope defense to end set two, 25-22. The Juniata offense continued to click in the second as they hit .400 as a team with 18 kills.
Juniata battled early in the third set to keep it close, but the Flying Dutch used a 5-0 run early to make it 9-15, and JC never recovered. Hope ended the set on a 7-0 run as JC suffered their worst set margin this season, 13-25.
Set four followed a similar script, as neither team could take control early. With the score at 12-12, Podolan's kill and an ace gave JC the lead back for good. After a service error by the Eagles, Christy put down a kill, and Coley and Muth combined for a block. Juniata found success tooling the block down the stretch as Muth, Christy, and Podolan all went off the Hope block for points. Williams's kill made it 21-17, and two points later, Coley skied over everyone for a kill to make it 23-18. An attack error gave Juniata set point at 24-20, and a service error brought Hope back within three. A ball that may have gone out of play, JC took no chances and kept it alive, which turned out great as Muth ended the match with her 12th kill of the day.
Juniata advances to the national semifinals for the second straight year and the 27th time overall as a program. They will take on Northwestern, who advanced to the Final 4 following a reverse sweep of Johns Hopkins. Game time is scheduled for 7:30.
