The Eagles raced past Wheaton College in a three-set win early in the afternoon before besting the fifth ranked hosts in five sets in the Championship game. Courtney Reinhold earned Tournament MVP honor. She was joined on the All-Tournament team by setter Maria Horning and Rachel Wenger.

The Championship game victory over the Tigers is the second win over a top-five ranked program in program history. The other victory came last night.

Reinhold and the Eagles started slowly in the Championship match. Coach Birtwistle's squad hit just .021 in falling 25-23 in the opening set. Reinhold, who finished the weekend with 78 kills, was in negative numbers for much of the first set, but she began to find her rhythm as the match progressed.

"We moved to Rachel and got some other things going," Horning related, "and we came back to her [Reinhold] later and she just put everything down. From the third game on, she was incredible."  Horning, who nearly lost her voice throughout the marathon match, also pointed out the effort of sophomore libero Kelly Groff.

She explained that the Tigers' big hitters changed their strategy after last night's loss and put more pressure on the back line with shots. That change in strategy meant that Groff would have to be on her game. She finished with a team-high 30 digs; only the seventh time in program history that a player has reached 30 in a match.

Eastern won the important second set 26-24 and cruised to a 25-19 win in the third, but the hosts, who many consider to be a serious contender for the 2010 National championship, battled back to take the fourth game 25-21. Outside the Eastern huddle, things looked bleak when the Eagles fell behind 4-0 in the shortened fifth game. Birtwistle called the time out to help his team settle for the finish.

"We looked in each others eyes," Horning said, "and we had confidence that we could do it. Coach just told us we needed the side out here. He said make the pass and put the ball down." When they stopped the run, the Eagles began to carve into the Tiger lead. They caught their hosts at 10-10 and finished the match with a 15-11 victory.

Reinhold finished the match with 24 kills and 20 digs. Horning had 54 assists. In the win over Wheaton, Horning dished out 44 assists and Reinhold put away 18 balls. Kearby Benak (12 kills) and Wenger (11 kills) also reached double figures.

The Eagles, who will likely move up several places in the AVCA National Poll, start conference action on Wednesday night with a game at 2009 Freedom finalist DeSales University.

Box Score- Game 1 Wheaton
Box Score - Game 2 Colorado College