GRANTHAM, Pa. – Eastern Volleyball split a pair of matches at Messiah College on Saturday. The Eagles lost to host Messiah 3-0 but responded in the afternoon with a 3-0 win over Lynchburg.

Eastern (25-7) struggled in the mornign match. The Eagles hit only a .177 and tallied only 38 kills. The Eagles held a slim 12-11 lead early in the first set, but Messiah (27-2) scored seven of the next eight points and held on to take the opening set 25-21.

The Eagles led 19-18 in the second set, but the hosts again rallied to claim a 25-23 win the second set. The Falcons erased a 23-21 lead in the third set to claim the match with a 25-23 win. Morgan Shemonski had 7 kills on only 13 swings to pace the Eastern office in the loss.

Eastern returned to form with an afternoon win over Lynchburg. Stephanie Elechko and Erin Hillman each had 10 kills adn the Eastern defense held the Hornets to a .071 hitting percentage in the match.

Eastern won convincingly in the first two sets The Eagles battled to a 25-20 win in the third set. Hillman recorded four kills in the decisive third set

Rikki Schlager led the offense with  67 assists. Michelle Paulsen had seven total blocks. Rylie Haas had 26 digs on the day. With that effort, the junior libero moved past the 500 dig mark for the third consecutive season. There have been only eight 500 dig seasons in program history.

Eastern will host the fourth seeded Misericordia Cougars in the opening round of the MAC Freedom Tournament on Wednesday night.