Juniata tops rival East Juniata in volleyball action

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: October 22, 2021

COCOLAMUS – Juniata with their high powered offense took advantage of East Juniata mishaps leading to a 3-0 victory over their cross county rival in Tri-Valley League volleyball action at East Juniata High School.
The Indians showed plenty of intensity offensively in the first half with Mackenzie Bennett and Savannah Marshall leading the charge against the Tigers.
East Juniata struggled to get into rhythm with their offense as everytime that they would gain possession of the ball, the Tigers quickly returned possession back to Juniata.
It wasn’t just the serving errors that East Juniata was struggling with in the first set. Despite the final score of 25-7 in the first set, the Indians had to earn a lot of those points thanks to the efforts of senior Kylie Jewel and Kendahl Stroup who helped keep the ball in play but ultimately Juniata was able to capitalize on their scoring opportunities.
Then early on in the second set, the Tigers went blow for blow against Juniata and was ahead for a while with big time plays from Marissa Lauver who scored a kill during the run as well as a huge block from Alina Feike.
Unlike the first set, Juniata did not start off as strongly offensively in the second as the East Juniata defense kept them on ice.
But cracks began to appear on the Tigers’ armor and the Indians started to turn up the heat and went on a tear. Shots were coming from every single direction as Bennett, Marshall and Alexea Frontz were wreaking havoc on the court. Eventually Juniata would defeat their rival 25-15 to take the second set.
The third set was a continuation of the struggles that East Juniata had in the previous two sets as errors were keeping the Tigers out of rhythm. But fortunately for East Juniata, the Indians too were having issues with turnovers.
Late in the set, East Juniata was holding onto a 20-18 with Juniata having possession, the Indians would overtime the lead scoring four straight points making it a 21-20 Juniata lead.
The Tigers were able to battle back and keep it close, but late mistakes allowed the Indians to take home the win in a very close 25-22 third set.
Although the Tigers were defeated, they got to spend a very emotional moment as a team because it was senior night for them and they all got together and celebrated their lone senior on the team in Kylie Jewel who had three digs in the game. Both coaches and players were showing their appreciation to all of the hard work that Jewel has given to the program.
The Tigers though also surprised their rival Juniata by honoring their seniors as well in Bennett, Imarylis Mercado, Anna Connell, Josie Abram and Valorie Fisher.
Congrats to all of the seniors and best wishes to them in their future plans.

← Previous Story Mifflin County Girls XC team tops Juniata and Susquenita

Next Story → Seniors Finish Stellar Regular Season Victorious over Line Mountain. Both teams honor and celebrate lead official Rebecca Trunzo in her final game after decades of devotion to field hockey that started on Memorial Field 55 years ago.