Sometimes the wise thing to do is not the easiest thing. With his two junior All-Americans nearly fully recovered from nagging injuries after a ten day break, Eastern University Head Coach Mark Birtwistle played Courtney Reinhold and Maria Horning for limited time in a three set win at Misericordia. The #5 Eagles were able to to secure the win despite the line-up adjustments.

Things started well enough for the Eagles with a convincing 25-11 win in the opening set. The host Cougars became the first Freedom Conference team to eclipse 20 points in a set in the second when they pushed the Eagles to a 26-24.

Misericordia led the set 24-21 before Christen Jansson put together a solid run  of serves to lead the Eagles in the comeback. Kearby Benak, who finished with a match-best 11 kills, earned several points in the late run. 

"Courtney was  next to me as they took the lead," Birtwistle said after the match, "She kept saying, 'put me in. Put me in.' They did not really have an answer for her in the first set, but we needed to hold her back a little bit for this weekend." Reinhold, who is ranked third in Division III in kills per set, put down seven balls in nine swings in the opening set, but Birtwistle kept her feet on the ground for the rest of the match, and Benak, Jansson and the rest of the Eagles overcame early errors to take the second set.

Eastern closed out the contest with a 25-19 win in the final set with Horning and sophomore standout Rachel Wenger joining Reinhold on the sidelines. Mary Poole finished with nine kills and a .368 hitting percentage.

Eastern (20-1, 5-0 Freedom) returns to action with a Friday night home game against #5 Christopher Newport University. With Eastern University out of session for Fall Free Days, the action will begin at 6:00 pm.That contest starts a stretch of 5 matches that will include three teams in the top five in the AVCA National Poll.