HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Ithaca College volleyball team opened action at the Juniata Tri-match on a high note posting a 3-1 victory over Christopher Newport (25-23, 17-25, 25-17 and 25-20) but fell to Juniata College for the second time this season by a 3-0 score (16-25, 21-25 and 17-25). The split on Saturday boosted Ithaca College to 12-10 overall this season.

Against Christopher Newport: Jaelyn Hershberger had a very productive match for the Bombers tallying a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs. The senior outside hitter was also a force at the net with four blocks and Paris Buckner was equally impressive at the net nearly going into double digits in blocks finishing with eight.

The Bombers rolled early building a 5-0 lead and used another five-point scoring burst to pull ahead, 19-14. A service ace from Julia Costa and a kill from Paris Buckner were the highlights of the string of points. That was just the breathing room that IC needed as they were victorious in the first set. CNU weathered an early scoring run from Ithaca and ended up winning the second set by a 25-17 score to tie it up.

In the third set, Ithaca came out much more focused and built a 13-6 lead and never looked back. The team capitalized on a service error and the final point of the set was scored on a swing and kill from Faith Sabatier that was assisted by Peyton Miller. The Bombers did much of the same in the fourth and final set building a nice cushion with a 13-5 lead before a 4-0 run tightened it up a bit. The set ended up getting knotted up at 19 points apiece, but IC closed this match scoring six of the last seven points, which included an Alison Lipton kill.

Against Juniata: Ithaca College came out looking just as good as they did in their first match of the afternoon and traded the lead back and forth before tying the set up at 13 points apiece after a huge Jamie Koopman kill. The Eagles went on a hot-streak and after an ace and kill that forced a Coach Dulfer timeout with the score at 18-14. IC couldn't slow down their opponents as they rattled off seven of the final eight points to take the first set 25-16.

The second set was much tighter as the Bombers remained in striking distance for the majority of the action. A kill via Faith Sabatier and an opponent attacking error tied it up at 7-7 but Juniata went on nice streak of points to establish a lead. But two-straight points including another nice swing and kill from Jamie Koopman once again tied it up at 14 points apiece. Trailing 22-19, Jaelyn Hershberger tried rallying her teammates with a nice swing of her own that got her team within two points but that is as close as it got with Juniata rallying for the 25-21 win.

The Eagles went on a 5-0 run to build an early lead in the third set. The Bombers played some of its best volleyball of the season against Juniata in a 4-0 surge that brought the score to 20-17. The Eagles put the match away capitalizing on a few errors and a block at the net.

Ithaca College will return to the court on Friday resuming Liberty League conference action with a road matchup with Bard College on Friday at 7 p.m.