HUNTINGDON, Pa. – No. 2 Juniata College hit .412 or better in every set and got 10 kills on .571 attacking from first year hitter Lily Podolan as they opened their 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball tournament run with a 3-0 victory (25-11, 25-11, 25-14) over Keene State College on their home court at Memorial Gymnasium on Thursday night.  The Owls were making their first tournament appearance since 2008.

Records

• Keene State:  13-15
• No. 2 Juniata:  29-1

Postgame Press Conference (Coach Weiner, Sydney Johnson, Cassidy Samuelson)

Quotable

• On what they learned:  "You play a team that has been nationally-ranked forever when you haven't been to the dance for 14 years and it's going to hurt.  They were better than I thought they'd be.  We're just figuring out how to win.  They already know." – Keene State head coach Bob Weiner.
• On his team's two seniors: "Sydney's (Johnson) legacy will be both as a terrific volleyball player, and as one of the most effective captains we've ever had here.  She's just a great young woman to work with.  Cassidy (Samuelson) is leaving us a year early, and although I'm so proud of her for getting done, we'll miss her.  She is the closest thing we had to a Juniata-level hitter, and she had a pretty good match all things considered."
• On goals for offseason and next year:  "We'd obviously like to return to the dance next year.  We're graduating more than 40 percent of our offense, so there will be challenges, but the returning players are such a great group that I think we'll figure something out."

How It Happened
KSC won nine of their last 11 matches following a 3-12 start to the season to secure their second Little East championship, joining the other from '08, but on this night ran into a hungry team looking to get back to the Final Four after they fell to the eventual national champion in five closely contested sets in that round one year ago.  The Eagles, who were awarded one of the eight regional hosting sites, piled up 11 service aces and made only eight attacking errors in the match.  Courtney Williams and Aly Reardon each added seven kills without an error, hitting .538, while Mackenzie Coley – the team's most efficient hitter at with a .391 percentage entering the night – actually it fall after a six kill, three error performance.  Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez had 14 digs and four aces, while Olivia Foley finished with 32 assists, three kills, and two aces.

Cassidy Samuelson paced the Owls with six kills on a .313 attacking percentage (16 swings).  She wound up hitting .253 for the season, and will be a hole KSC has to fill next year.  Molly Wetherbee added five kills and hit .167, finishing with a .242 attacking clip this year as only a sophomore.  Gigi Stake had nine digs while Reagan Fleming and Kelsey Harper each had seven.  All three figure to return to Keene State's roster next season.  Overall, Keene State struggled offensively against a team that entered the tournament with the best defense in the country, allowing opponents to hit only .059.  Rivier University was second, at .062, and was also an opponent on KSC's schedule.  Juniata dug out 42 of Keene State's 80 swings (53 percent).  It was their fifth match on offense this season where the Eagles made single-digit attacking errors.  For the Owls, it was their eighth time being held under .100 hitting.  They finished 1-7 when doing so, with the lone win coming at the most opportune time – in the Little East championship match, which helped them get to this point.  Four of those instances came as they dropped 12 of their opening 15 matches of the season, which had a delayed start after the opening weekend was cancelled.  First years Stake and Grace Christian helped flip the season around with their contributions over the month of October, with the former finishing with 112 kills in 21 matches.

Juniata was in control throughout on Thursday, scoring five points in a row in the opening set to turn what was a three-point lead into a 12-4 gap on consecutive kills from Audrey Muth.  A kill by Kroha made it 16-7, but the Owls scored just four more times in the first.  The second set was similar.  An attack error by the Eagles' Brianne Carmody had KSC within 9-5, but five consecutive Juniata points forced an Owl timeout, and the home team carried that 14-5 advantage to a 2-0 match lead.  KSC hit .107 and .133 in the first and third frames, which is actually higher than what the Eagles' had allowed their opponents to hit overall on the season, but managed only two kills and five errors in the second set.  Juniata finished their 20th straight set victory of the year by doubling up the Owls 10-5 early in the third set to take command once more, and piled on 11 of the next 12 after that.

Service Aces

• It was the first ever meeting between the two teams, and the No. 2 ranked opponent was the highest ranked foe KSC has played in the Division III era where poll data was available.  The Owls had previously played then-No. 10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then-No. 17 Wesleyan University (Conn.) earlier this season, both of whom made the NCAA tournament (and swept their opponents today).
• The loss wraps up the KSC careers for Samuelson and Sydney Johnson, a team captain in her senior year.  Samuelson finishes with 465 kills on .256 hitting in 62 career matches (201 sets).  That attacking clip would rank fifth on the Owls' all-time career list, but that is based off a minimum 1,500 attempts.  Johnson wraps up with 740 spikes in 95 matches (326 sets), just outside the top 10 on the KSC career list (Shelly Ellis is tenth with 789).

Up Next

• Keene State's season is over.  They will look to try to find offense to replace Samuelson and Johnson and use what they learned over the course of the season to start next season on the right foot.
• No. 2 Juniata advances to face State University of New York at Cortland (22-5) tomorrow night (November 11) at 7:00 p.m.  The Red Dragons advanced to the second round for the second consecutive year by sweeping Rowan University by set scores of 26-24, 25-22, and 25-11.