From Mirror reports

HUNTINGDON — The Penn State Altoona women’s volleyball team made its fourth NCAA postseason appearance in program history on Thursday evening, when the Lions faced off against No. 1 Juniata College in the first round of the Division III Championships’ Huntingdon Region bracket at the Eagles’ Memorial Gymnasium.

Juniata, the two-time defending champion, handed Penn State Altoona a 3-0 loss, as the Eagles prevailed in three sets by scores of 25-12, 25-16, and 25-11.

Juniata moves on to the second day of the regional bracket tomorrow, Friday, while Penn State Altoona is eliminated.

The Lions’ Lia Simanski scored a team-best five points on five kills. Ella Hadley had four points on four kills. Taylor Myers had 2.5 points on a kill, an ace and a block assist, and Maggie Brewer also had 2.5 points on two kills and a block assist.

Makenna Port and Jadeyn Price chipped in 1.5 points apiece, with both players recording one kill and one block assist.

Madelyn Rockwell had a team-best eight assists for the Lions, and Julia Emel added five assists.

Anna Batrus put up a team-high eight digs for Penn State Altoona, while Brianna Woodring had four digs.

After a kill from Hadley made it 1-1 in the first set, Juniata (30-0) ripped off eight straight points to go up 9-1. A kill from Simanski and four Juniata attack errors kept the difference at eight points, 13-5, and another Hadley kill helped to close the gap to seven, 15-8. But the Eagles pulled away even further, and despite late a late kill from Simanski and a service ace by Myers, the Lions (18-12) fell 25-12 in the opening set.

Juniata opened the second set by scoring the first five points, en route to a 10-3 start. But kills from Simanski, Port, Hadley, and Brewer helped Penn State Altoona narrow its deficit to five points, 15-10, midway through the set. Simanski, Hadley, and Myers added more kills to the Lions’ point total, but Juniata ultimately took the second set by a score of 25-16 to establish a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Eagles staked out a commanding 16-2 advantage to start the third set. After that, Port and Brewer teamed up on a block, followed by kills from Price and Simanski to make it 16-5. Myers and Price combined for a block to put the Eagles’ lead at 18-9, but Juniata responded with a 6-0 run to get to set point, 24-9. After two Juniata attack errors, the home team scored a kill to end the set at 25-11 and knock the Lions out of the NCAA Tournament.