Serving and passing problems came back to haunt Juniata Valley Tuesday evening at Bellwood-Antis as the Green Hornets saw their modest two-match winning streak come to a halt after being swept in three games by the Blue Devils. Game scores were 25-18, 25-14 and 25-19.
“The phrase of the night was ‘you can’t pass; you can’t play,’” commented Hornet coach Kelly Cook. “We just couldn’t pass the ball and that left us unable to really get anything going. We also didn’t block very well and Bellwood took advantage.”
The loss dropped Juniata Valley to 10-9-1 overall (7-5 non-tournament) and 4-4 in the Mountain Athletic Conference Division III. Bellwood remained unbeaten atop the circuit at 9-0. The Devils won a 3-1 decision at Alexandria Sept. 13 with scores of 26-24, 25-19, 20-25 and 25-15.
“Bellwood jumped out to big leads in both the second and third games, but we were trying to dig ourselves out of deficits all night,” added Cook. “We just seem to have this mental block when we play really good teams. When a team volleys back with us, we tend to make stupid mistakes. Our serving and passing killed us tonight.”
The Hornet junior varsity salvaged the evening by sweeping the Devils in two games on scores of 27-25 and 25-23. Juniata Valley lost a 2-1 decision to Bellwood earlier in the season.
The Hornets return home Thursday for the first of four straight home matches when they meet Moshannon Valley.
Southern Fulton 25 25 25
Tussey Mountain 11 7 15
Tussey Mountain lost a three-game decision to Southern Fulton Tuesday evening in Sideling Hill League action at Saxton. Game scores were 25-11, 25-7 and 25-15.
The Titans, who also lost in three games at Southern Fulton Sept. 14 by scores of 25-15, 25-9 and 25-8, slipped to 1-22 overall and 0-9 in the circuit.
The Titan junior varsity improved to 4-8 overall and 3-6 in the league with a 21-25, 25-23 and 15-4 victory.
No other information about last night’s match was available.
Tussey Mountain hosts McConnellsburg Thursday.
