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Juniata falters against third-ranked Wittenberg, 3-1
Story Courtesy of the Juniata Athletics Site
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Juniata College couldn't sustain a
marvelous hitting performance in the first set, eventually dropping
a 3-1 decision to third-ranked Wittenberg University on Friday
night at the Pam Evans Smith Arena.
Set scores for Wittenberg were 16-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-9.
Fourth-ranked Juniata (26-5) hit .324 in the first set, putting
away 13 kills on 34 swings with only two errors on its way to the
win.
The Eagles built on a 10-9 lead, scoring seven of the next eight
points including three straight off the serve of freshman outside
hitter Amy Miller (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch). Miller added an
ace during the run, with senior middle Kristin Noetzel (Closter,
N.J./Northern Valley Regional), junior outside hitter Drew Barnhart
(Titusville, Pa./Titusville), and sophomore opposite Kelsey Fuller
(Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) each adding a kill.
Juniata remained at least six points in front of Witt over the
remainder of the first set, before back-to-back kills by Miller
finished off the set in the Eagles' favor.
Wittenberg (26-2) led virtually wire-to-wire in set two, with
Juniata pulling even on a couple of occasions before the Tigers
regained the lead. The Eagles grabbed an early lead in the third
set, thanks to a pair of kills by Noetzel and Barnhart. However
Wittenberg caught Juniata at 9-9 on a kill by the Tigers' Kimmie
Dyer, and after a Juniata rally to take an 11-9 lead Witt again
pulled even with the Eagles at 13-13.
The Tigers pulled away from there to take set three, hitting .341
while holding Juniata to a .174 attack percentage.
Wittenberg dominated set four, hitting .400 while Juniata finished
with a -.034 attack clip.
Barnhart paced the Eagles offensively with 14 kills on 53 swings
for a .132 hitting percentage. Noetzel finished with nine kills and
three blocks, while junior middle Amanda Schmidt (Boswell,
Pa./North Star) tallied seven kills on 15 swings and hit .400 for
the match.
Senior setter Steph Strauss (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) logged 27
kills while running a Juniata offense that hit .143 for the match.
Junior libero Libby Morrison (Portland, Ore./Oregon Episcopal
School) turned up 22 digs, while Fuller and Miller sprawled for 17
and 18 digs respectively.
Wittenberg's Dyer and Katie Sumner each had 13 kills for the
Tigers, who hit .216 versus the Eagles. Christine Simpson tacked on
nine kills.
Juniata closes out its 2010 regular season on Saturday at the
Wittenberg Fall Classic, facing Carnegie Mellon University and
College of Mount St. Joseph.
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Contact Peter Lefresne at lefresp@juniata.edu or (814)641-3134 for more information.
