ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Volleyball used solid defense and efficient offense to sweep Muhlenberg College (18-10) and Hunter College (17-14) in a pair of home matches to close out the regular season. The No. 13 Eagles (27-5) hit .302 in a three-set win over Muhlenberg in the morning and a sparkling .410 in a 3-0 sweep of Hunter in the afternoon contest.
Stephanie Elechko put away ten kills in a 25-21 first-set win over the Mules. Both teams hit well in the opening set.
Alicia Weigel was nearly as impressive with eight kills as the Eagles needed 22 kills to gain the 25 points. Muhlenberg hit .225 but had no answer for Eastern's two senior outside hitters.
The Eastern block found its way into the match in the second set. The Eagles held the Mules to a negative hitting percentage with four blocks and four digs from
Rylie Haas and
Alicia Weigel. The Eagles jumped out to an 11-4 lead on a big run with
Morgan Kline serving. The visiting Mules closed the gap to 13-12 but were never able to get the lead. Eastern scored 12 of the final 16 points to win 25-16.
Elechko put away six more kills in the third set and
Sarah Roberts and Weigel each added four kills. Elechko finished with 20 kills; Weigel added 15, and Roberts had nine kills on only 14 attacks. Kline finished with 41 assists.
The Eastern offense connected with devastating efficiency against Hunter. Elechko again led the way with 14 kills. She hit .393 and actually brought the team hitting percentage down a little. Roberts and
Michelle Paulsen each hit over .500, and Weigel hit .438 with eight kills. Haas had 14 digs to finish the regular season with 562.
"Our seniors stepped up and had a solid weekend." Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said after the action had finished. "Ry [Haas] had good serving and was consistent on defense. Steph and Alicia attacked aggressively and mixed up shots that scored."
Birtwistle was also pleased with the defensive presence and serving of
Miranda Kauffman. In the two matches, she was a perfect 20-for-20 receiving serves, added ten digs and served 25 times with an ace and two errors.
The Eagles start the pursuit of their ninth consecutive MAC Freedom Championship on Wednesday evening. They will host fourth-seeded FDU-Florham. The match will start at 7:00 PM.
