Eastern Volleyball downed rival Neumann College in three games. Kara Hildebrand led the Eastern hitters with a 13-kill effort. The Eagles will return to action tomorrow at 4:30 against Salisbury University.

In 2007, the Knights snapped Eastern's run of 11 straight PAC Championships with a four set win. An almost entirely different line-up took the floor for the Eagles at the start of this afternoon's match at Juniata College. Hildebrand and Mandy Platt were the only two Eastern players on the floor with NCAA Tournament experience. 

Hildebrand missed the entire 2007 season, and the junior outside hitter looked to do a full season's worth of hitting in the opening set of today's match. Hildebrand, a veteran of two NCAA Tournaments, dominated the beginning of the match with five quick kills on the way to an 11-3 lead.

The Knights would close the gap to 12-7, but were never able to get closer as Courtney Reinhold and Nicole Burns also got into the first-set attack with five and four kills respectively. Burns put down all four of her attacks and the Eagles hit a spectacular .516 to take the first set 25-15. 

The Eagles raced out to a 7-1 lead in the second set. They would stretch that advantage to 20-12 before the Knights would rally to cut the final margin to 25-23. Some uncharacteristic hitting errors from the Eagles took the pressure off the Neumann defense and the Knights were able to rally, but Hildebrand was able to close out the second set with a kill. Mandy Platt, the lone senior on the Eastern roster, picked up three kills on seven attacks to lead the Eagles in the second set. 

Eastern finished the day with a convincing 25-8 third set win. Hildebrand again picked up five kills to help the Eagles build an 11-3 advantage early, but this time the Knights were not able to rally. Freedom Conference Player of the Year Maria Horning had all her weapons at her disposal and the Eagles hit a solid .353 in the final set. Horning would finish the day with 37 assists. Eastern hit .344 for the match.

Reinhold joined Hildebrand in double-figure kills with ten, and Burns put away nine kills on just 17 attacks. Nikki Kummerer led the Eastern defense with 16 digs.

The 23rd ranked Eagles, now 34-1, are one of two teams in the Division III with just one loss. They will take on the other, 22nd ranked Salisbury University, in tomorrow's 4:30 Semifinal.