The Eastern University volleyball team returned to familiar surroundings after two full weeks of road games. The Eagles enjoyed the opportunity to play in front of a large crowd of supporters and beat DeSales University 3-0. Both teams, who last met in last years Freedom Conference Final, started thier 2009 conference schedule this evening.
The Eagles sputtered at the beginning of the first set, and they fell behind 6-1. Courtney Reinhold smashed a pair of kills to help Eastern gain the momentum back. The Eagles used tough serving and solid attacking to claw their way back, and they eventually built a five point edge midway through the first set. The Bulldogs rallied late, but their rally fell short as the Eagles eventually won the opening set 25-20. The Eastern team hit a solid .298 in the opening set, but five hitting errors almost proved costly.
The Eagles put on a show for the home folks in the second set. They rolled to a 25-10 win on the strength of an impressive .500 hitting game.
While the hitting stats showed up big, strong serving and passing were the at the heart of the Eagles' success in the critical second set. Even with their commitment to attacking on the serve, they committed only a single service error, and strong passing put the team in system almost immediately. Their organization in serve receive never gave the Bulldogs a chance to serve more than twice in a row. Reinhold and Nikki Kummerer lead the strong serving attack as each served five straight points during the second set. The Eagles finished the match with six total aces, but good combinations of jump serves and floaters kept the visitors off balance throughout.
DeSales rallied and stormed out to a 5-0 lead to start the third, but the Eagles regrouped following a Mary Poole kill to tie the set at six. The Bulldogs never allowed the defending champions to build much of a cushion, but also could never get the momentum swinging point to take a lead. DeSales pulled within one late, but a Reinhold kill gave the Eagles a 23-21 lead. The sophomore All-American's 17th kill the night did not hit the floor cleanly, but caromed to the ceiling in the back corner of the gymnasium off a diving DeSales defender. The Eagles used that momentum to close out the match with a 25-21 win. Rachel Wenger and fellow freshman Heather Kauffman combined on a big block to finish the match.
Reinhold notched three services aces and six digs to go with her match-high 17 kills. Wenger tallied double digits kills with 11. Maria Horning once again orchestrated the offense as she collected 43 assists to go along with seven digs. The All-American and reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Year surpassed the 1500 career assist plateau just seven matches into her sophomore campaign.
Eastern travels to Hoboken, N.J. on Friday and Saturday for four top quality non-conference matches at the Stevens Institute of Technology Invitational Tournament. They are scheduled to compete against the hosts as well as highly ranked teams from Cortland State and Williams.
Box Score
