Juniata three-peats in D-III
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SALEM, Va. -- The Juniata College women's volleyball team cemented their status as a dynasty as it topped the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 3-2 (25-19, 25-19, 15-25, 26-28, 15-10) on Saturday evening to win its third consecutive NCAA Division III National Championship.
Juniata's Kennedy Christy was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while Olivia Foley and Mackenzie Coley joined her on the all-tournament team.
Christy had 18 kills (.286) with 12 digs, two aces and a block assist, while Coley contributed 19 kills (.341), a dig, a solo block and two block assists. Lily Podolan added 14 kills (.257) with three digs, and Courtney Williams of Tyrone tallied seven kills (.235) with two block assists. Foley had 56 assists, 18 digs, a kill, an ace, and two block assists, while Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez totaled 19 digs, four assists and two aces.
Coach Heather Pavlik has been on the sideline for all five championship appearances and was the associate head coach for the 2004 and 2006 teams.
The team finished 35-0 for the second consecutive year, winning 97 straight matches. This season the Lady Eagles won 29 matches via sweep.
Juniata is the first team to win three straight national championships since Central (Iowa) 1998-2000. No team in the history of Division III women's volleyball has gone undefeated in consecutive years.
This group of graduate students and seniors ended their time in Huntingdon 136-3, having dropped 44 sets over four years and a perfect 67-0 on their home floor, having won three national championships and reached a Final Four the other year.
The junior class is 104-1, while the rising sophomores have been on the wrong end of a set score 13 times and first-years are undefeated in their careers, having dropped seven sets total.
PSU advances
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Jess Mruzik and Camryn Hannah combined for 44 kills to lead the Penn State women's volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-15) win over North Carolina in the NCAA second round on Saturday at Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions upped their record to 31-2 overall.
Penn State will host an NCAA Regional at Rec Hall for the first time since 2017. The Nittany Lions will play Marquette in the NCAA regional semifinal on Friday, while Creighton and Texas square off in the other semifinal match in Happy Valley. The winners meet in the regional final on Sunday at Rec Hall.
Mruzik went off in the win over North Carolina, hitting .280 with 21 kills, nine digs, and four blocks. Hannah was efficient with her 13 kills, hitting .435. Taylor Trammell was nearly perfect with eight kills and no errors on her nine attempts for an .889 hitting percentage. Caroline Jurevicius hit .368 with eight kills.
Pitt moves on
PITTSBURGH -- Behind 10 kills and a match-high nine digs from Torrey Stafford, the No. 1-seeded Pitt volleyball team swept No. 8-seeded Oklahoma (28-26, 25-21, 25-19) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday night at the Petersen Events Center.
The win marked the fifth straight season the Panthers have advanced to the Regional Semifinal round of the NCAA Tournament.
Pitt will face No. 4-seeded Oregon in the regional semifinal round on Thursday at the Petersen Events Center at 3:30 p.m. Missouri and Kentucky meet in the other regional semifinal with the winners playing Sunday.