ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—No. 14 Eastern University Volleyball suffered just its fifth loss on Saturday afternoon, but this loss was the first of the year against an unranked opponent.
The Haverford College Fords (10-7) shocked the Eagles with a 16-25, 29-27, 23-25, 25-22, 15-10 upset. The Eagles finished Saturday's quad match with a 25-14, 25-21, 25-15 victory over a one-win Widener University team while Haverford fell in four sets to Salisbury (whom Eastern had beaten in three sets Friday night).
After scorching the ball with a .433 hitting percentage in the first set, Eastern's hitting percentage dipped significantly over the next four sets. The Fords out-hit the Eagles .176 to .159 for the match, and in the decisive fifth set, the Fords out-hit the Eagles .280 to .032.
Eastern had four players with double-digit kills and Lauren Sproles had a team-high 17. Katrina Pisch added 12, Stephanie Elechko contributed 11 and Alicia Weigel added 10. Setter Rikki Schlager distributed 53 assists and libero Rylie Haas had a team high 23 digs. Freshman defensive specialist added 15 digs.
Haverford's dynamic duo of middle hitter Meg O'Day and outside hitter Keri Godbe led the Fords' attack. O'Day smacked a career-high 22 kills while hitting .390, and Godbe had a season-high 20 kills. O'Day put down the match-ending kill.
The Eagles took control of set one at 15-14 with a kill by Erin Hillman that started an 11-2 run to close out the set. In set two, Eastern led 22-20, but three errors and a Haverford kill put the Fords at set-point. The Eagles kept the set going and regained the lead at 26-25 with a kill by Sproles. An O'Day kill gave Haverford the 28-27 lead and then an ace by Nina Mutty ended the set.
Set three remained tight down the stretch, but Eagles' freshman recorded three kills on the final four Eastern points to give Eastern the 25-23 edge.
Haverford jumped to a 10-3 lead in the fourth set and still had a seven-point lead at 20-13. The Eagles clawed to within two points at 24-22 after back-to-back kills by setter Rikki Schlager. The ended in Haverford's favor on the next point however after Schlager was called for a rare ball-handling error.
Set number five started almost the same way as set four with Haverford jumping to a 9-3 lead. The Eagles pulled to within 10-8 on a kill by Elechko that forced a Haverford timeout. That was as close as the Eagles would get, and O'Day ended the match at 15-10 with her 22nd kill.
Eastern bounced back with a three-set win late in the afternoon over the Widener University Pride. Stephanie Elechko and Alicia Weigel each had eight kills while Katrina Pisch knocked in nine kills while hitting .615. The Eagles out-hit the Pride .194 to .020. Eastern also dealt out seven service aces in the win.
Eastern plays at DeSales University on Wednesday night and then plays Stevenson University and Lebanon Valley College at Stevenson on Saturday.
Box Score vs. Haverford
Box Score vs. Widener
