St. Davids, Pa. - Eastern University Women's Volleyball emerged with a 3-0 win over the visiting DeSales University Bulldogs in a rematch of last year's Freedom Conference Championship match. The No. 10 Eagles have won 53 straight regular season conference matches since joining the Freedom Conference in 2008.

The Eagles (16-3, 3-0 MAC FREEDOM) , still playing without All-American setter Rikki Schlager, grabbed control of the match early with tough serving and a solid return game. Freshman setter Rachael Graham provided a spark in the first set with five straight points on serves to help her team build a 7-4 lead. The Bulldogs battled back to tie the score at 10-10 before Eastern scored six straight points on the serve of junior libero Rylie Haas. The Eagles hit just .148 in the opening set but used aggressive serivng and good defense to pull away to a 25-17 first set win. The Bulldogs were unable to get the ball past the Eastern block and onto the floor. The visitors hit -.103 in the first set.

After committing errors on two of the first four points of the set, Eastern's high-powered offense took over. The Eagles hit .364 with 15 kills and cruised to a 25-11 second set win. Led by Alicia Weigel with five kills, five different hitters recorded kills in the second set. First year middle hitter Sarah Roberts recorded all three of her kills in the set. One of this kills came on a beautifully-timed quick set from Graham to give the Eagles a 9-7 lead.

Sophomore Miranda Kauffman joined with Graham to run the offense throughout the evening. Kauffman, regularly a defensive specialist for the Eagles, finished with 16 assists, three digs and three aces. Her tough serving put the Bulldogs on their heels for eight consecutive points in the second set. The Eagles rode the momentum from a decisive win in set two into the final set.

Kauffman put the Eagles up 11-7 in the third set with five consecutive points on serve. Head Coach Mark Birtwistle stressed the importance of aggressive serving after the match. The Eagles finished with eight aces but picked up several other points when DeSales was defensive in serve receive. Eastern scored six of the final seven points to close out the match.

Weigel finished with a match-high 13 kills. The junior outside hitter needed only 20 attempts and did not commit an error. She also recorded a pair of blocks. Morgan Shemonski had nine kills and a very solid .444 hitting percentage.

Eastern will host a MAC Crossover Match on Saturday October 3rd. The Eagles will play the Stevenson University Mustangs at 10:00 AM and the Lebanon Valley College Dutchmen at 4:00 PM.