HUNTINGDON, Pa.– Eastern University Volleyball bounced back from a tough loss Friday night with a pair of impressive wins in their final two matches at the Win Guisler Invitational hosted by Juniata College. The No. 15 Eagles (23-5) beat the No. 7 Emory University Eagles (22-5) in five sets and then turned around and beat Geneva College (18-10) in three sets.
The win over Emory was the first over the UAA powerhouse in Eastern program history. The Eagles won the opening set, 25-21, before dropping the the next two sets by identical 25-17 scores.
Eastern trailed 18-17 in the critical fourth set.
Alicia Weigel put away a kill on the sideout and then stepped back to serve. Eastern went up a point on a block by
Stephanie Elechko and
Sarah Roberts and then built the lead to 20-18 on an Ace from Weigel.
Emory earned a point back on a sideout, but
Sarah Roberts put away her third kill of the set to earn the point right back.
Rylie Haas served three consecutive points to give Eastern a set point at 24-19. The high-powered Emory offense earned a sideout and scored three straight on serve before
Michelle Paulsen put away her second kill of the set for a 25-23. win.
"We talked last week about having a good Saturday after playing well on Friday," Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said after the match. "We played well yesterday and pushed Juniata to the end. We had a great Saturday and played as well as we are capable. Emory has such a good team. We were able to compete doing the right things and make the necessary adjustments. Our serving was on point and really got Emory off timing."
The great work to level the match in the fourth set looked as though it might go for naught as Eastern trailed 12-8 in the short fifth set. In his timeout, Birtwistle asked his team to call on extra effort on defense. His charges responded with several huge digs.
After a sideout to cut the deficit to 12-9,
Miranda Kauffman came in to serve. The junior defensive specialist made several spectacular digs and served the final six points of the match. Roberts and Weigel combined for a block to end the match.
Eastern hit just .137 in the match, but the defense clamped down late to hold Emory to just .037 in the final set. Elechko led Eastern with 17 kills. Weigel had 13 kills and a season-high 23 digs. Haas had 17 digs and Paulsen kept her impressive blocking run going with six more blocks.
While Geneva did not bring a national ranking to the table, Eastern's game against the Golden Tornadoes carried its own distinct challenge. The Eagles had only minutes to transition between the dramtic and emotionally taxing win and another challenge against a rested team.
"Even tired we did the right things and used solid ball control to control the Geneva game," Birtwistle noted. "Rylie [Haas] was really solid passing and on defense. Miranda [Kauffman] was outstanding on defense. They both made quick decisions and passed perfectly."
The Eagles hit .328, including a sparkling .457 in a 25-17 win in the second set. Weigel led the Eastern hitters with 15 kills. Roberts had 10 and Elechko added nine. Paulsen was nearly flawless with six kills on only nine attacks. It is the first match this season that Elechko had less than ten kills.
Haas had another 17 digs in the final match. With those digs she goes over 500 digs in a season for the fourth time in her career. She is the first Eastern player to do that.
The Eagles will wrap up MAC Freedom play with a match at Delaware Valley on Tuesday before closing out the regular season with a home invitational next weekend. The Eagles will honor their three seniors before their 7 pm match against Lycoming on Friday night.
