WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes women's volleyball team put together a hard-fought performance as they welcomed No. 1 ranked Juniata College to the Marts Center on Saturday afternoon but fell to the reigning national champions 3-0.

The Colonels fall to 4-15 on the year with a 0-5 record in Landmark play, while the Eagles remain undefeated at 20-0 and 7-0 in conference play.

After two dominant Juniata set wins 25-11 and 25-15, the Colonels left it all on the court in the third set despite falling 25-21. Wilkes had a match-high nine kills and 29 total attacks in the final set, recovering from a 13-5 deficit with an 11-2 scoring run to tie the set at 16 all.

Three late kills by Sierra Hines (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Holy Redeemer), a kill from Jenna Baron (Nanticoke, PA/Greater Nanticoke Area), and a Rachael Anderson (Canmore, AB/West Island College) service ace kept the Colonels in the set until the very end, but the Eagles firepower was too great, and they took the straight-set victory.

Hines led the Colonels with nine kills while Alexa Cassel (Mount Joy, PA/Lower Dauphin) dished out 15 assists. Defensively, Cassel and Ally Sheridan (Hanover Township, PA/Hanover Area) led the team with six digs each.

Maeve Edmund led Juniata with eight kills and Abbey Telesz had the most assists with 16. Sophia Repholz led the defense with 10 digs.

The Colonels return to action on the road next Friday, October 25 as they travel to face the University of Scranton at 7:00 p.m.