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Noetzel's 10 kills pace Juniata women's volleyball past Elizabethtown, 3-0
Story Courtesy of the Juniata Athletics Site
HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Middle hitter Kristin Noetzel (Closter,
N.J./Northern Valley Regional) put away 10 kills with two blocks to
lead Juniata College women's volleyball to a 3-0 win over
Elizabethtown College, in Juniata's third annual "Dig Pink Night"
match on Thursday night at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation
Center.
Set scores for Juniata were 25-18, 25-11, and 25-15.
Juniata (15-1), ranked second in the AVCA Division III coaches
poll, hit .288 for the match, with senior Steph Strauss (Penn
Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) setting 27 assists. Opposite Kelsey Fuller
(Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) and outside hitter Rachelle Wiegand
(Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) each recorded eight kills; Wiegand
tallied hers on just 18 swings with only two errors for a .333
attack percentage from the left side, and also logged two blocks.
Freshman outside hitter Amy Miller (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch)
finished with six kills on the night.
Libero Libby Morrison (Portland, Ore./Oregon Episcopal School)
turned up 22 digs, her fourth 20-dig performance of the season.
Elizabethtown (11-6) was paced by pin hitter Holly Bubb with seven
kills on 18 swings for a .333 attack clip, while middle hitter
Lindsay Palm recorded six kills and five errors on 20 attacks.
Setter Crystal Agnew set 20 assists for the Blue Jays, but
Elizabethtown was held to a .108 hitting percentage for the match.
Much of that came in the first set, when the Blue Jays hit .194 and
were tied with the Eagles as late as 15-15, but E-town failed to
hit over .100 in either the second or third set.
The Eagles actually trailed for a good portion of set one, down
10-5 until a service error by E-town's Andrea Weaver returned serve
to Juniata. With Fuller serving, Juniata rattled off four straight
points, including three kills by Strauss and an ace by Fuller. That
knotted the set at 10-10, and the lead see-sawed back and forth all
the way to 14-14. Back-to-back kills by Noetzel and Fuller gave
Juniata a 16-14 lead, and the Eagles slowly pulled away from there.
A Miller kill put Juniata on set point, and an attack error by Palm
clinched the set for the Eagles.
Sets two and three were dominated by Juniata.
A four-point Juniata run off Morrison's serve ended with the
Eagles holding a 16-7 lead in set two, with Wiegand getting a pair
of kills during the run. Shorter point runs by off the serve of
Strauss and Jordan Hopper (Laguna Beach, Calif./St. Margarets
Episcopal) sealed the set. In set three, Morrison's serve again
proved to be E-town's undoing, as Juniata notched seven straight
points off her offering. Morrison put away two points on aces,
while Noetzel had a pair of kills.
Approximately 975 fans were in attendance for the "Dig Pink Night"
festivities, which were entirely planned by members of the Juniata
women's volleyball team. The event raised approximately $3000, with
all proceeds going to the Side-Out Foundation
�?" an organization that raises money for
breast cancer research through the sport of volleyball.
Juniata will face Landmark Conference opponents Goucher College,
United States Merchant Marine Academy, and Susquehanna University
on Saturday and Sunday at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove,
Pa., in the first of two Landmark round-robin weekends.
