HOBOKEN, N.J.– Eastern University Volleyball used a pair of late rallies to earn a 3-0 win over the Ramapo College Roadrunners (25-6), and advance to the NCAA Regional Finals for the ninth time in program history. Stephanie Elechko and Alicia Weigel each had 12 kills to lead a balanced Eastern attack.

The No. 13 Eagles (31-5) played from ahead and built a 19-12 lead in the opening set. In that opening run, the Roadrunners scored only one point on serve. Ramapo put together a five-point rally to cut the Eastern lead and force a timeout. Out of the timeout, Morgan Kline put away consecutive kills to start a four-point run for the Eagles. Up 23-17, the Eagles only needed a pair of sideouts to close out the set. Eastern picked up one on an attack error and Michelle Paulsen closed out the opening set with her second kill of the set.

The Roadrunners looked to outside hitter Larysa Iwaskiw for much of their attack. She had eight kills in the opening set.

With Iwaskiw leading the way, Ramapo looked prepared to even the match at a set apiece when they pulled away to a 23-19 lead. Iwaskiw already had eight kills in the set and had finished her three back-row rotations with her side needing just two points to close out the set.

"Larysa is so good," Birtwistle said. "We tried to do some blocking against her, and we got a few blocks, but when she went into the back row, we felt like we needed to make our runs." As it played out, the Eagles would have to get runs with Iwaskiw in the front row.l

The Eagles picked up a sideout point on a kill from Morgan Shemonski, and then Elechko went back to serve. Elechko served aggressively, and the Eagles picked up a pair of points on errors. Weigel put away a kill to pull Eastern level at 23-23, and then Shemonski and Paulsen combined to block Iwaskiw. Weigel closed out the set with a kill. She had six kills in the second set.

Ramapo grabbed a lead in the third set as well. The Eagles trailed 20-19 when Paulsen and Shemonski again blocked Iwaskiw. The Roadrunners, however, were able to sideout and earn a point on serve to go up 22-20.

Elechko put away her 12th kill of the match to cut the deficit to 22-21 and went back to serve.  Iwaskiw hit a deep shot that the Eagles let go just long, and then Shemonski and Paulsen again teamed up for a block. Shemonski put the Eagles up 24-22 with her fifth kill of the match. The Eagles claimed the match when the final Roadrunner attack of the day went wide.

Eastern hit .241 in the match and scored five points on blocks. Shemonski and Paulsen combined for all five Eastern blocks. Iwaskiw finished with a match-high 23 kills, but the junior standout needed 73 kills to get them. Weigel and Elechko combined for 71 attacks. With her 12 kills today, Weigel moves into a tie for 13th on Eastern's career kill list. She has 983 total. She also had 12 digs.

Rylie Haas led the Eastern defense with a match-high 17 digs. Kline had 36 assists.

Eastern will play the host Stevens Tech Ducks tomorrow at 1 pm. Stevens advanced with a three-set win over Clark.