Juniata closes out St. Thomas

Juniata 3, St. Thomas 0 It was great to see the St. Thomas senior class on the big stage, but the first description of the team on the broadcast was Cinderella story. That’s not exactly true. Just leave it at the Tommies’ first appearance in the Elite 8. Now the country knows what kind of teams we have to deal with in the Central and Midwest regions.

After a slow start filled with Juniata attack and service errors, the Eagles righted the ship and made a run to win Set 1, 25-22. St. Thomas came out swinging and blocking, like always, but couldn’t get a dig or pass late. It didn’t seem like Juniata knew that when Tommies RS Alesha Nelson is on the court, Alesha Nelson gets an attempt. Katie Bonine vs. Drew Barnhart was a good outside hitter battle.

Almost a carbon copy in Set 2, when UST couldn’t come up with the big play and lost, 25-22. A UST lift on the second contact off the net and a ill-advised Tommies touch on what had been a tooled block cost them late. The setters, UST’s Emily Foster and JC’s Steph Strauss, are fun to watch.

JC’s Barnhart showed off every serve in the book to open a 15-7 lead. A mixed bag of shanks and miscommunication contributed to the run, but the Tommies rattled off the next five to get within three. The UST passing allowed MB Jill Osborne to get more involved in the offense, but the Barnhart service run was too much to overcome as the Eagles went on to win, 25-16.

Strauss, a 2nd-Team All-American, is something else. She was my player of the match. She was one of the players I thought got a bit short-changed in All-America balloting. Strauss, Christopher Newport’s Jessie Heavenrich and St. Olaf’s Kim Smisek stuck out the most in that regard. I think this match featured this season’s top two setters in the country, with Marilee Fisher, Amy Cox, Maria Horning and Jessie Heavenrich in the mix.

A good showing for the Tommies in their Elite 8 debut, but Juniata simply outplayed UST at the end of the first two sets.

-Ricky Nelson