ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Volleyball (23-6) beat Stockton University and Swarthmore College to cap off a 3-0 weekend at home.

In the morning, the No. 14 Eagles hit .520 to claim the first set 25-16. Even with the impressive hitting number, the Eagles needed a late run of points to pull away. The Ospreys trailed 12-11 before the Eagles began to earn points on serve. The Eagles did not miss a sideout opportunity the rest of the set and won 25-16.

The second and third sets were even closer. Stockton (25-4) held a 19-18 advantage late in the set, but the Eagles scored a point on Erin Hillman's serve and a point on Alexis Harbold's serve and were again perfect in the sideout game to earn a  25-23 win. Morgan Shemonski had four kills in the second set. Alicia Weigel, Michelle Paulsen, and Stephanie Elechko each had three as senior setter Rikki Schlager distributed the ball to her various options.

Stockton used an 7-1 to grab an 17-11 lead in the third set and to force an Eastern timeout. The Ospreys, who entered today's action ranked 2nd in their most recent NCAA Regional rankings, looked like they would force another set. The Eagles, however, found their rhythm at the right time and scored 13 of the final 15 points to claim the match.

Out of the timeout, the Eagles took a brief step backwards and trailed 19-12. Kaitlin Gochenauer put away a quick tip for a sideout. After a Stockton error, Gochenauer and Elechko combined to stuff an Osprey attempt and force the visitors to call a timeout. 

"I told them to hit it on the other side of the net," Head Coach Mark Birtwistle quipped when asked about his words in his team's timeout. "It was a little more than that," he admitted, "but it really came down to not making the errors. Our block was pretty good from there." The Eastern front row picked up three blocks in the late run, including a solo from Paulsen to tie the match at 21-21. As important, the block forced Stockton to tip balls and to roll shots to the back row that the Eagles could handle. Rylie Haas served out the final seven points of the match.

Stephanie Elechko led the Eagles with 10 kills while Rikki Schlager totaled 39 assists.

Eastern topped Swarthmore in straight sets again to finish off the day and tournament. Weigel led the way with 21 kills as the Eagles won by scores of 25-19, 25-16, and 25-17.

The Eastern attack was in rhythm from the start of the second match. The Eagles put away 20 kills and hit .425 to race to a 25-19 win in the first set. Swarthmore (18-7) was within a point at 17-16 in the second set, but the Eagles scored the final eight points of the set on Shlager's serve to win 25-16. Schlager recorded consecutive aces in that late run.

In the third and final set, the Garnet jumped out to a 9-4 lead. Eastern scored 14 of 17 points to take a 19-12 lead and control of the match. Erin Hillman tallied three kills in the final six points to help secure the win.

Haas finished with 16 digs. The junior libero has recorded double-figure digs in 28 of 30 matches this fall.

Eastern will host the Misericordia University Cougars in the final MAC Freedom contest of the year on Wednesday. The Eagles will honor their four seniors prior to the start of the match.