SALISBURY, Md. – The Bridgewater Eagles volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to the Eagles of Juniata College at the Sea Gull Classic hosted by Salisbury University on Friday evening. 

Bridgewater fought in the first set, but lost by a 25-19 tally. After a closely fought second set, the Eagles fell 25-23 and were unable to recover, dropping the final set by a 25-13 score to give Juniata the 3-0 match victory.

Bridgewater jumped out to an early 3-0 lead as Katie Long tallied back-to-back kills to open up the first set. Juniata quickly tied it up at three and then seven points each before freshman Abby Mills forced the side out, giving Bridgewater an 8-7 advantage. Juniata used some Bridgewater errors and boosted its lead to 13-8. The Eagles fought back to bring the score within two, 17-15 with a block by Mills and Megann Grimes, but they were unable to hold off the offensive efforts of Juniata as they fell, 25-19.  

In the second set, Bridgewater used early Juniata attack errors and kills by Long, Mills, and Megan Lookabaugh to build an 11-7 advantage, forcing a Juniata timeout. Out of the stoppage, Juniata gained the momentum back and went on a 6-0 run to take the lead 13-11. The lead see-sawed back and forth, but the Eagles couldn't take the lead late as Juniata pulled away to take a 25-23 victory.

Juniata rattled off six straight points to open up the third set before a Long kill gave Bridgewater its first point of the set. A kill by Maddy Carter cut the lead to 8-4, but Juniata didn't let up and pushed its lead to 21-10. Bridgewater took advantage of a number of late Juniata errors to bring the score to 21-13, but back-to-back Nakita Gearhart service aces ended the set and handed Juniata the 25-13 win.

Long led the way for the Eagles' offense with 11 kills, while Mills tallied nine. Lindsay Kallam dished out 26 assists and Mills, Mara Hogan and Ashley Weik chipped in eight digs each.

Gearhart paced the offense for Juniata with 11 kills and Kelly Reynolds added 31 assists on the day. Brittani Young notched a game-high 15 digs.

Bridgewater continues action tomorrow as it takes on Salisbury at 10 a.m., followed by Mary Washington at 12 p.m. to conclude the second day of the Sea Gull Classic at Salisbury University.