CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion volleyball team faced off against one of the top Division III teams in the nation on Tuesday, falling 3-0 (11-25, 17-25, 22-25) to Juniata at the Student Rec Center.  The Golden Eagles (12-5, 3-1 PSAC) will be back to conference action this weekend when they face off with Gannon and Mercyhurst.
 
Going against the sixth-ranked team in Division III, the Golden Eagles battled in three sets but were unable to overcome hot-hitting Juniata.  The ersatz Eagles hit .388 as a team while Clarion hit .080 on the evening.
 
Olivia Olson led the Golden Eagles with 12 kills, followed by eight from Julia Holden and six from Aubrey Wrona.  Chrissy Cotton posted 16 digs to lead the defensive effort, followed by 13 digs from Marissa Robertson.
 
The most competitive set of the night was the third, as Clarion jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks in part to a kill and two aces from Wrona.  Holden bumped the lead to 9-5 with an ace, and Wrona notched another ace at 14-10 to force Juniata into calling a timeout.  Juniata rallied, however, and pulled even at 16 after a Clarion attack error.  The teams traded points back and forth, with Olson tying it up at 19 with a kill. 
 
Olson added another kill a few points later to cut Juniata's lead to 23-21, but a kill by Dejia Danhi made it match point.  Marybeth Weihbrecht delivered the match-winning kill at 25-22.
 
Juniata controlled the early portion of the match, using a 12-0 run in the first set to take a 5-4 hole and turn it into a 16-5 advantage.  They went on another extended run to go up 24-10 and won the set on a kill by Alyssa Tavera.  The second set was close early on as well, but Juniata ultimately pulled away for the 25-17 win.