OWINGS MILLS, Md.– Eastern University Volleyball rallied from a two sets down to force a fifth set before falling to No. 9 Carnegie Mellon University Tartans in the opening round of the 2017 Division III NCAA Tournament.
Caroline Shelby registered 24 kills to lead the Eagles.
The Tartans (30-4) came in as the top seed in the eight team bracket. They took advantage of ten Eastern hitting errors to win the opening set 25-21.
The Eagles (20-13) grabbed control of the second set and pulled away to an 11-7 lead on six-consecutive points with
Morgan Kline serving. They held that lead through the set and led 23-19. The Tartans then rattled off six-straight points to win the second set and seemingly grab control of the match.
"At no point in the match did I feel like we were out of it," Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said after the second set. "We talk a lot about resilience, that's one of our words. We needed it. I looked in their eyes and their eyes were good. We played as hard as we could and I am very proud of them."
While the Tartans were the top seed in the group, they were not playing an ordinary eight-seed. Eastern has played in 18 of the last 19 NCAA Tournaments, and Birtwistle's teams had won 15 consecutive opening round matches.
The Eastern resolve came through in the third set. Using what Birtwistle called one small defensive adjustment, Eastern earned some separation with Kline serving. The junior setter ripped a pair of aces in a four-point burst to put the Eagles up 17-11. The six-point edge, however, did not hold up the whole way as the Tartans rallied to tie the set at 23-23.
Ally Spillane came up with a huge kill off the block to earn a sideout point. The first year outside hitter traveled to the match today after staying behind with flu-like symptoms all day yesterday. She served for the set, and Shelby came through with a kill after a tremendous one-armed dig by
Miranda Kauffman to keep the point alive.
The Eagles, who had lost in three sets to Carnegie Mellon two weeks ago, seemed to find more energy after taking the set, but the Tartans still pulled out to a 20-18 lead in the fourth.
Morgan Shemonski delivered a kill to turn the momentum and the Eagles then scored three-straight points on Kauffman's serve.
Michelle Paulsen keyed the run with two blocks and a kill. The junior middle hitter finished the match with seven kills and seven blocks. The Tartans earned a sideout, but could not score on serve and the Eagles closed out the set with a pair of kills from Spillane around another Paulsen kill.
Shelby had four-consecutive kills to put the Eagles up 5-3 in the fifth before the Tartans scored 12 of the final 14 points to close out the match.
Kauffman led five Eastern players in double-figure kills with a career-high 27 digs.
Sydney MacDonald had 22 and
Cecilia Bauer had 18. Kline had 19 digs to go with her 51 assists. Shelby had 14 digs. Eastern's 114 digs surpassed the team's previous high total this year by 41 digs.
Sarah Roberts finished with 11 kills and four blocks, and Shemonski had nine kills and a pair of blocks.
Shelby finishes her rookie campaign with 452 kills which is the most ever by a freshman at Eastern and the eighth-highest single-season total ever. Paulsen's 134 blocks this year is the third highest single-season total in program history. She is now tied for second with Lisa Sondej on Eastern's career block list. She trails Kate Adams by 32 blocks. Both Adams and Sondej are in Eastern's Hall of Honor.
Today's match was the final match for Kauffman and Shemonski. The pair have been part of four MAC Freedom Championships and been to four NCAA Tournaments.
"I could not be prouder of the people these two are," Birtwistle said after the match. "They have led this team as captains and have represented our program well."
Carnegie Mellon will play Swarthmore College in the second round.
