Eastern University Volleyball needed a fifth set rally to beat York College to win the Spartan Best Western Westgate Invitational. With the championship, the Eagles improve to 12-0.  They now prepare to host a nationally ranked Stevens Tech side on Wednesday.

The fifth set in college volleyball is a race to 15 points where a team has to win by two. Saturday's win over York was the first five set contest for the Eagles, who had only once been extended to four sets on the year. Eastern's young squad fell behind 8-4 at the switch, and things did not look good. York continued to pressure the Eagles and held a match point at 14-12, but Eastern's team showed their poise, competitive fire, and maturity as they fought off a pair of match points and emerged with a 19-17 win.

Coach Birtwistle said of the final match, where his team jumped to a 2-0 lead before dropping the next two sets to go to five, "We built a lead with two hard-fought set wins against York, but they picked up their intensity and we didn't match it.  Our girls really started feeling some pressure as York passed and defended very well."

For the match, Kara Hildebrand led with 18 points on 15 kills and 3 blocks (15K, 6E, 33A, .273). Courtney Reinhold added 14 kills, an ace and 2 blocks for 17 points and 20 digs.  Nikki Kummerer led the team with 21 digs.  Mandy Platt and Nicole Burns provided defensive strength at the net. Platt ended with 13 points on 8 kills and ace and four blocks while Burns notched 9 points on 7 kills and 2 blocks (7K, 2E, 20A, .250).

Coach Birtwistle was very pleased with the character his young team showed in the championship game win. The Eagles had already secured a berth in the championship game by virtue of their twoFriday night wins, but they finished pool play in the morning with a quick three set win over Rowan.

Eastern played nearly perfect volleyball in the opening set to earn a 25-4 win and then held on to win 25-20 and 25-15.  "We were flawless at the start of the match, "said Birtwistle, "and then we let up a bit and took Rowan for granted.  Rowan responded very well and gave our girls a nice fight after the first set. Our defense, led by Nikki, Maria and Mandy, came up big and secured this win for us."

Kummerer again led the Eagles with 15 digs. Platt had 17 points with 11 kills and four aces. The York Tournament does not select an all tournament team, but if it did, Eastern setter Maria Horning would certainly have been under strong consideration as she sparked the offense with 82 assists on the day. The freshman also showed her defensive strength with 29 digs and three blocks in Saturday's action.

The Eagles will host home matches on Wednesday and Saturday.