The 23rd ranked Eagles kicked off their 2009 volleyball season with a 3-0 shutout of visiting Susquehanna University on Tuesday night.

Eastern, with three new faces in the starting lineup struggled to find their groove offensively as the Crusaders took a 6-0 lead in the first set.  The Eagles rallied back, scoring six unanswered points of their own.  The first set remained tight as both teams traded scores and saw multiple lead changes.  The Eagles finished out the first set by a narrow margin of 25-22.

The second set also started off as a back and forth battle.  Once again Eastern struggled to find an offensive groove until late in the second set.  However, once the Eagles picked up the pace, they refused to look back.  After winning the second set 25-18, they would rally early in the third set and never looked back.  Eastern would close out the shut out 25-13 in the third set.

Rachel Wenger and Courtney Reinhold set the pace for the offense with 12 and 10 kills respectively.  Reinhold also picked up a pair of aces.  Maria Horning notched 29 assists and was second on the team with 12 digs.  Libero, Nikki Kummerer tallied a match-high 18 digs. 

The Eagles also put up a strong defense at the net with 11 blocks.  Heather Kauffman played a solid defensive game, with 3 solo blocks and 4 block assists.  Mary Poole added 3 solo blocks as well.

Next up on the Eastern volleyball schedule is a two day tournament at Juniata College on September 4 and 5.  Friday night's start times are 6:00 and 8:00 PM, while Saturday's matches are slated for 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.  The Eagles will face Ithaca, Juniata, Dickinson and Hiram respectively over the weekend.

Box Score