CENTER VALLEY, Pa.– Caroline Shelby finished with a career-high 27 kills, and Eastern University Volleyball claimed a tenth consecutive MAC Freedom Championship with a four-set win at DeSales University. The second-seeded Eagles (20-12) were playing on the road in the conference tournament for the first time since 1996.

The Bulldogs (22-10) fought off three match points to tie the final set at 24-24, but Shelby pounded home her final kill of the match to put the Eagles up one before the match ended on a DeSales hitting error. The Eagles hit .351 for the day and .371 in the final set. Eastern picked up four points on blocks in the final frame.

DeSales earned the top seed with a five-set win at Eastern early in the year. In that match, the Bulldogs won the first two sets.

The Eagles (20-12) made sure that would not happen again. Shelby set the pace for the offense with seven kills on 11 attacks and the Eagles pulled away to a 25-18 win in the opener. Eastern hit .378 in the opening set.

"Defense won the match today, " Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said after the game. "We had four  players in double digit digs and several came in big moments of the game. Randa [Miranda Kauffman] held our defense together. I could not be more proud of her leadership today." Kauffman had five digs to lead the Eagles in the opening set, and the team hit .378 with only a single receiving error.

The Bulldogs rallied in front of their large and vocal student section in the second set. They hit .359 with 18 kills to win the second set 25-19.

The Eagles jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the critical third set. MIchelle Paulsen served a pair of aces to fuel the early run. Shelby had eight kills on 11 attacks int he third and the Eagles cruised to a 25-12 win in the set.

"Caroline was really special today," Birtwistle said. "Against a solid DeSales defense, she was literally unstoppable!  She saved her best match of the year for today. Morgan Kline was also very good today. She made good decisions throughout the match and didn't force what wasn't there." Kline had 48 assists, 11 digs, and six kills.

Birtwistle commented on the performance of both his seniors in a tough environment. He credited Morgan Shemonski with slowing down DeSales standout Gabby Savité. Shemonski lined up in front of the MAC Freedom Player of the year and kept her from having open opportunities to hit. Her presence at the net enabled the Eastern defense to have the success that it did in the match.

"We never really got our middles going," Birtwistle said, "but both Michelle and SarahBob [Sarah Roberts] were able to hold their blockers long enough and Morgan [Kline] delivered good sets to Caroline." Roberts, who was the 2016 MAC Freedom Tournament MVP finished with six kills on 13 attacks to go with three blocks. Paulsen had four kills, three aces and three blocks. She now has 425 career blocks.

Eastern has won every MAC Freedom title since joining the league and has played in 17 of the last 18 NCAA Divsion III Volleyball Tournaments. With today's win, the team again qualifies. They will find out their opponent and destination on Monday.