(Posted September 18, 2009)

ST. LOUIS -- The no. 1-ranked Juniata College women's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to seventh-ranked Washington University (Mo.), to close out Friday's action at Washington's Teri Clemens Invitational.

Set scores for Washington were 28-26, 41-39, and 27-25. The loss was the first of the season for the Eagles, who climbed to the top of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III poll this week following a win over then-number one Emory University last weekend.

Freshman Kelsey Fuller (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) led the Eagles offensively with 13 kills and two total blocks, while sophomore Drew Barnhart (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) tallied 10 kills. Amanda Schmidt (Boswell, Pa./North Star) tacked on nine kills of her own.

Kristin Noetzel (Closter, N.J./Northern Valley Regional) aided the offense with three blocks. Steph Strauss (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) ran the Juniata offense for much of the game, and finished with 31 assists. Lexi Ebert (Titusville, Pa./Titusville) played the early part of the third set, and tallied eight assists.

Defensively, libero Megan Sollenberger (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) turned up 23 digs.

"We played kind of the same way we did last weekend at the Washington & Lee tournament," said Juniata head coach Larry Bock. "We had a chance to win all three games, but the little things hurt us - but they're little things I think we can correct. I do think we were out-ball controlled, and that's something uncharacteristic for Juniata volleyball."

"Bottom line, it was a very good match for us to play in an intense and loud gym. There was some pressure brought to bear on us tonight, and learning to play in that will help us in the long run," said Bock.

Juniata (9-1) continues play in the Teri Clemens Invitational on Saturday with matches against no. 6 St. Thomas (Minn.) and no. 18 University of La Verne (Calif.).

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.