CENTER VALLEY, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball held off a strong challenge from the host DeSales University Bulldogs to claim a three-set MAC Freedom win. Alicia Weigel led the Eastern attack with 11 kills.

The two teams have met in all but one of the MAC Freedom Championship games since Eastern joined the league in 2008. In 2014, in the regular season match in Center Valley, DeSales became the only league team to take a set off Eastern.

The Bulldogs (10-6, 2-1) came into the contest with the No. 13 Eagles with confidence and a vocal home crowd behind them. They jumped out to an early 7-2 lead and forced Eastern Head Coach Mark Birtwistle to take a timeout. From there, the Eagles used a big block, good passing, and aggressive serving to chip away at the lead. Eastern finally drew level on a Morgan Shemonski kill to tie the match at 14-14. Stephanie Elechko followed that point with a thundering kill, and Morgan Kline stretched the lead to 16-14 with an ace.

Birtwistle cited his team's serving as a key factor in turning the game. While the Eagles only finished with four aces in the match, he felt that his team was able to force the Bulldogs out of system enough to score points on serve.

Eastern claimed the opening set by a 25-20 score. The Eagles hit .178 with 14 kills.

The Eastern offense found its rhythm in the second set. Fueled by good passing and an imposing presence at the net, the Eagles hit .296 and held the Bulldogs to a negative hitting percentage in claiming the second set by a 25-16 score. Michelle Paulsen had three of her match-high seven blocks in the second set.

The Bulldogs had a 17-14 lead in the third set, but the Eastern defense again stiffened and the Eagles scored five of the next six points to swing the match. Cecilia Bauer put the Eagles up with an ace and Paulsen combined with Shemonski on a big block to stretch the advantage to 20-18  and force a DeSales timeout.
 
The Eagles were able to sideout and score three points on serve to close out the contest. Kline finished with 31 assists. Rylie Haas and Miranda Kauffman finished with 16 digs each. Paulsen has 47 total blocks in her last six matches.

Eastern Volleyball has not lost a regular-season conference match since 1999.

The Eagles and Bulldogs will both travel to Stevenson this Saturday for the top flight of the MAC Crossover. Eastern will play the host Mustangs at 10 AM and the Messiah College Falcons at noon.