ST. LOUIS- Eastern University Volleyball worked through a slow start to top the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) Tommies in three sets to advance to the Final Four. The No. 4 Eagles become the first Eastern University team in any sport to make a Final Four appearance. Kearby Benak and Courtney Reinhold each tallied 15 kills to pace the Eastern attack.
The Eagles fell behind early, and had to rally from a 9-4 deficit to take the first set 26-24. The Eagles, making their first appearance in the Elite Eight, shook off the nerves and settled in against the No. 11 Tommies. Reinhold finished the opening set with seven kills. Fellow All-American Maria Horning recorded 18 of her 45 assists in the opening set.
"We just couldn't get our passing down early, " Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said of the start of the game. "Once we relaxed it got better."
Though Reinhold and Horning were the standouts through the first set, a pair of freshmen, Lauren Sproles and Katrina Pisch earned the final two kills.
Eastern rode the momentum of the first set to a 15-6 lead in the second. With the early lead, the Eastern passing settled into a rhythm, and the Eagles were able to side-out to a 25-18 win in the second set. Benak came to life with six kills late in the set to push the Eagles through. The sophomore from Houston, Texas, made her mark with numerous hits off the big St. Thomas block.
Eastern struggled early in the third set as well, but consecutive kills from Reinhold and Pisch brought the Eagles to within two points at 6-4. Eastern grabbed the lead at 11-10 on a bad set, and would not trail the rest of the way. Though they held the lead, the set remained in doubt for Coach Birtwistle's side with a slim 21-19 lead, but Reinhold finished three of the final four points for the 25-19 win. Eastern became the first team in Friday's quarterfinal matches to win in just three sets.
Pisch finished the evening with eight kills on 16 swings, and Sproles tallied seven kills. Reinhold finished with a team-high 22 digs and Kelly Groff added 19. Eastern hit .311 for the match.
The Eagles will face No. 5 Wittenberg University in the second semifinal tomorrow evening. Carthage and Christopher Newport will play in the first semifinal.
Eastern is scheduled to play at 6:00 pm local time. Coverage of the match is available through NCAA.com
