NEWPORT NEWS, Va.--Eastern University Volleyball advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after a 25-14, 25-15, 25-9 win over the Salem College Spirits in Friday's opening round.

Eagles' freshman Morgan Shemonski led all players with 11 kills while hitting .667 for the match. While Shemonski was the only player with double-digit kills, the Eagles had five other players with at least six kills: Erin Hillman had eight, Alicia Weigel and Katrina Pisch both had seven, and Lauren Sproles and Rikki Schlager each had six kills. The Eagles compiled 49 kills with six errors on 103 attempts to finish the match with a .417 hitting percentage. Defensively, Eastern held Salem to a .074 hitting percentage.

Shemonski, who's enjoying her first NCAA Tournament experience, mentioned that Schlager's setting was in the right spot all day and right down the line where she wanted it. Schlager distributed 32 assists and also added seven digs. Sophomore libero Rylie Haas led the Eagles with 16 digs.

The Eagles' largest deficit of the match came in the first and second set when they briefly trailed at 3-1. Beside that quick deficit, the Eagles led for almost all of the match.

Sophomore middle hitter Steph Elechko returned to the court for the first time since being sidelined with an injury on Oct. 1 and made her presence known in the one set she played. Elechko smacked five aces on 10 serves and also added two kills. "Steph is a great athlete," said Eagles' head coach Mark Birtwistle. "She's dynamic, she's tall, and she does a lot of really good things for us. When she got hurt (in October), Alicia (Weigel) came in and did a great job too. She moved from being an outside hitter to the middle and she's done a nice job. The team's playing well, so it's always nice to have a lot of options. If we need to use (Steph) we can; if not, we have players that are doing a great job at what they're asked to do."  

Eastern, ranked No. 13 in the nation, improved to 30-5. Salem's season comes to an end with a 12-14 overall record.

The Eagles move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they will get a rematch against unranked Haverford College. Haverford upset Eastern in St. Davids on Sept. 7 in a five-set marathon. The Eastern/Haverford grudge match starts at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Box Score

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