CMS Volleyball Concludes East to West Battle with 3-1 Defeat to No. 6 Juniata

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - After picking up two big wins on the first day of the East to West Battle, including a 3-0 win over No. 1 Emory, the No. 3 CMS volleyball team's bid to complete the tournament undefeated came up short as it dropped a close 3-1 decision to No. 6 Juniata on Saturday at Washington University. 

Set scores were 25-22, 21-15, 27-25, 25-22 in favor of Juniata. With the loss, CMS falls to 9-2 on the season, while Juniata improves to 5-4. 

Senior Phoebe Madsen had her second straight triple-double and fourth of the season in a losing cause, totaling 11 kills in 19 attempts (hitting .474) to go along with 21 assists and 13 digs. Senior libero Sarah Tritschler had a big day defensively with 28 digs, and joined Madsen as All-Tournament Team selections. Senior Amanda Walker (12) and junior Regan Dinovitz (11) were in double figures in kills. 

The first set was tied 21-21 before Juniata came up with a timely 3-0 run. After a CMS timeout, Walker had a kill to close CMS to within 24-22, but Dejia Danhi had a kill on the following point to give the first set to the Eagles. 

CMS leveled the score at a set apiece with a strong second set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead behind two Walker kills. The Eagles got all the way back to within 19-18, but junior Melanie Moore and Dinovitz had kills to key a 3-0 run to get needed separation, and Dinovitz was able to finish off the win with a kill to make the second set score 25-21. 

The third set proved to be pivotal as the Eagles won it 27-25. The Athenas were down 22-18 but came back to tie it with a 4-0 run, capped off by a Dinovitz kill. CMS fought off set points at 24-23 and 25-24, with Moore and Walker combining on a block to tie it 25-25, but Brianne Carmody had a kill and Marie Gonsar followed with an ace to give Juniata the 2-1 lead. 

CMS fell into an 11-5 hole in the fourth set after a 7-0 Juniata run, and was behind by as many as eight points at 17-9. The Athenas put a run together to close to within 19-15 on a Madsen kill, but Juniata fended off the challenge and got the lead up to 22-15. CMS used a 5-0 run to fight off five set points, with Madsen picking up a service ace after kills by Dinovitz and Walker, but Victoria Taylor's kill at 24-22 prevented a potentially dramatic comeback. 

CMS will be back in action when it opens SCIAC play with a road match at Redlands on Friday.