ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern University Volleyball dropped a pair of matches to top-quality opponents in the final day of the Eastern University Fall Classic. The Eagles (8-12)  fell in three sets to Ithaca College (20-7) in the morning, and fell in four sets to Stevens Institute of Technology (24-7) in four sets in the afternoon.

The Eagles hit .295 to take the second set 27-25 against Stevens, but the Ducks hit .303 in the third set to grab control of the match with a 25-17 win. Stevens closed out the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth set. Caroline Shelby and Morgan Shemonski each had 11 kills in the Stevens match. Michelle Paulsen had nine kills and five blocks.

Miranda Kauffman had 16 digs in the match to pick up her 1000th career dig. Kauffman played as a defensive specialist for her first three seasons before donning the libero jersey this fall.

"Miranda was really good for us all weekend," Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said after the match. "She is our defensive leader. She did a great job keeping points alive for us."

The Eagles lost in three tight sets to Ithaca. The Bombers then beat No. 6 Carnegie Mellon in four sets.

Shelby hit .296 against Ithaca with nine kills. Shemonski added eight kills. The Eagles were unable to get their blocking game up to stop Ithaca's Reagan Stone, who finished with 20 kills.

After dropping the opening wet 25-20, the Eagles led 19-16 in the second set, but the Bombers scored five of the next six points out of a timeout to grab the lead. Shelby delivered a kill to tie the match at 21-21. The two teams traded side-outs before the Bombers scored the final three points to claim a 25-22 win in the set. Ithaca hit .423 in the final set to win 25-18.

"We played against really good teams this weekend," Birtwistle concluded. "We had times where we looked really good, but we need to get more consistency to be able to win these types of matches. I am hoping that this will have us thinking and playing faster as we go into the conference tournament."

The Eagles are the second seed in the MAC Freedom Tournament. They will host FDU-Florham on Wednesday evening at 7 PM. DeSales, the top seed, will host King's College in the other semifinal.