Juniata volleyball tops Upper Dauphin

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: October 8, 2021

MIFFLINTOWN – After dropping the first set of the match, Juniata rallied behind the efforts of Mackenzie Bennett, Alexea Frontz and Imarylis Mercado to defeat Upper Dauphin by the final score of 3-1 in Tri-Valley League volleyball action Thursday.
The Indians started off strong in the opening set of the match they scored the first five points of the evening. However, as time went on the Trojans not only caught up but eventually surpassed Juniata to take the lead.
One of the issues that Juniata faced in the first set was struggling to maintain control of the ball as soon as the Indians received it, immediately giving the ball back to Upper Dauphin. A lot of the credit for the Trojans being able to stay ahead of Juniata was in large part due to the efforts of seniors Tania Hall who scored a couple kills in the set and Natalie Campbell who collected a pair of aces as well as a kill in the set.
But to Juniata’s credit, the Indians held strong and stayed close with the Trojans. Eventually, Upper Dauphin went on to win the first set by the final of 25-20.
Despite the loss, it only seemed to energize the Juniata squad as in the second set. The score was a close 4-3 as the Juniata offense went off behind the serving of Anna Connell who helped score four straight points including two aces.
The Indians refused to let Upper Dauphin have any sort of momentum in large part thanks to Bennett and Frontz who took away any chances of the Trojans having a comeback with a devastating kill. Juniata ended up taking the second set 25-17.
It was more of the same for the Indians in the third set of the match. Juniata put constant pressure on the Trojans with lots of ball movement and heavy firepower produced by both Bennett and Frontz.
Even when Upper Dauphin had possession of the ball, the Trojans were unable to get points on the board as many of those points were taking away by Mercado who was diving and moving all over the court preventing any points from scoring as well as setting the ball up to her teammates Bennett and Frontz which led to kills.
The Indians went on to take the third set by the final score of 25-16.
Everything seemed to come together for Juniata in the fourth and final set of the match as the Indians started the set off on a tear behind the serving of Frontz.
Juniata scored eight straight points on its first serving attempt of the set that included a kill from Bennett and four aces by Frontz.
Both Bennett and Frontz continued to wreck havoc on Upper Dauphin bringing in the heat from the outside and putting more points on the board. Meanwhile Mercado continued to frustrate the Trojans defensively as anytime it appeared that Upper Dauphin was going to score, Mercado was there to keep the volley going.
Eventually, the Indians managed to close the match out by the final score of 25-16.
Bennett had 14 kills, six digs and two aces for Juniata. Meanwhile Frontz added another 12 kills, five digs and eight aces. Last but certainly not least, Mercado collected 19 digs and scored an ace.
The Indians lost in the JV game 2-0 with the first set being 25-14 and then the second set 25-18.
With this victory the Juniata Indians move up to (7-4) and will look to keep the winning ways going as on Saturday, Juniata will travel to fight it out with South Williamsport.