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Huskies break court loss streak

LEWISTOWN — What a way for the seniors to go out.

Mifflin County got its first win of the season, defeated Juniata 3-0 in nonleague volleyball Thursday evening.

“It’s nice, it’s good to see the girls come together as a team especially an important night for the seniors,” Huskies coach Krystena Mayo said. “Coming into it we were just hoping for a good end to our season and they were able to make it happen.”

The Indians had a quick start to the opening set of the match. But the Huskies slowly caught up and eventually taking the lead behind the serving of Kashia Smith, who scored a pair of aces and senior Jade Morningstar, who led Mifflin County scoring seven straight points — two of which were aces from Morningstar and a kill each from seniors Kiana Sechler and McKenna Seese.

Juniata tried to catch up late in the set, but failed to keep the momentum going falling to Mifflin County 25-22 at the end of the set.

Both teams struggled early in the second set with neither Juniata or Mifflin County able to get going offensively. But then the Huskies began to pull away and looked to secure the win.

The Indians were not willing to give up and started to chip away at the Mifflin County lead before getting within one, forcing the Huskies to call a timeout.

“I think we were a little complacent — we were kinda making our own mistakes, not being in the position we were suppose to be so I think that’s why it was so close,” Mayo said.

Juniata eventually took over the lead late in the second set but failed to close it out as Mifflin County pressed and pressed to pull out the win 30-28.

“They just outplayed us,” Indians acting coach Susan Paden said. “They worked a little bit harder but, we were right with them.”

Going into the final set, the Huskies revved up the pressure with sophomore Aubrey Jordan leading the charge. Anytime Juniata looked to pick up some momentum, Jordan came in and pumped the brakes on them.

For Mifflin County it was a picture perfect ending to the set as a senior in Morningstar came on from the outside and scored the game clinching kill.

“We started to talk,” Mayo said. “We started to move on the court, we were picking up balls. It pretty much came down to talking and knowing where you are on the court and making the big plays at the right time.”

For the three seniors who played their final game as a Husky, Morningstar had four aces and three kills, Sechler had eight kills and Seese scored six kills. Mayo is thankful and appreciative of their contributions to the program.

“I’m happy for them. They were really, really wanting to get a win for their senior year,” Mayo said. “These three girls have been with me since I started. They have all been with me through this journey and they are near and dear to my heart. We wish them best of luck with whatever they do.”

For the Indians, their senior, Hunter Johns, led the way with four kills, 14 digs and two aces. Sophomore Imarilis Mercado had four kills and collected 24 digs and Mackenzie Bennett had 11 assists.

“They were great,” Paden said. “They were helping the team, good encouraging on the court, they really helped the team rack up points.”

The Indians defeated the Huskies in the JV game, 2-1.

Mifflin County (1-16) travels to Penns Valley on Monday.

Juniata finishes its season at 7-12.

Mifflin County 3, Juniata 0

Scores: 25-22, 30-28, 25-16

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