(Posted October 23, 2010)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College required five sets before putting away a resilient Eastern University squad, 3-2, to close out action in 2010 Wid Guisler Invitational women's volleyball tournament on Saturday evening at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.

Set scores for top-ranked Juniata over fifth-ranked Eastern were 25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, and 15-10.

Senior setter Steph Strauss (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) recorded a triple-double against Eastern, finishing with 11 kills, 50 assists, and 13 digs. Two other Juniata players posted double-doubles, led by outside hitter Amy Miller's (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) 12 kills and 10 digs, and middle Kelsey Fuller's (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) with 11 kills and 14 digs with four blocks.

Senior middle Kristin Noetzel (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Regional) tallied a team-high 13 kills with four blocks and three aces; junior Amanda Schmidt led Juniata in hitting percentage with eight kills and one error on 13 swings for a .538 attack clip.

Juniata tallied 86 digs against Eastern, led by Libby Morrison's (Portland, Ore./Oregon Episcopal School) 25 digs.

Eastern pin hitter Courtney Reinhold led the match with 28 kills on 73 swings, finishing with a .233 hitting percentage, and a team high 19 digs. Setter Maria Horning logged 49 assists while running an Eastern offense that hit .191 for the match, but that proved to be not enough to overcome a Juniata squad that hit .247 with only 23 attack errors over five sets.

Juniata effectively controlled the decisive fifth set right out of the gate, jumping out to a 4-0 lead off the serve of Miller who had one ace during the run. Juniata's advantage reached 8-3 following a pair of attack errors by Rachel Wenger, and JC remained ahead of Eastern all the way to 13-9. A block by Eastern's Horning and Mary Poole cut the Juniata lead to 13-10, but a Miller kill put Juniata on match point. An attack by Eastern's Reinhold went wide of the court, giving Juniata the victory.

Earlier in the day, Juniata posted a 3-1 win over Williams College, by set scores of 25-19, 24-26, 25-13, and 25-19.

Miller paced Juniata offensively with 13 kills, whle Noetzel and Schmidt added 11 and 10 respectively. Noetzel also finished with five blocks with Schmidt adding four. The Eagles hit .205 for the match, handing the Ephs 38 points on attack errors and service errors, but Williams hit just .148 kills for the match with 35 kills.

Courtney Greenberg (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers) set the offense with 42 assists, while Morrison sprawled for 12 digs.

Williams opposite Kate Anderson finished with 13 kills, while Eleanor Levine posted 10 terminations.

For Juniata, Morrison and Fuller were named to the All-Tournament Team. They were joined by Williams' Anderson, Reinhold and Horning from Eastern, and McAlvany from Emory. Emory setter Natalie Schonefeld was named Most Valuable Player.

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