HOBOKEN, N.J.– Eastern University Volleyball battled back from early deficits, but fell in five sets to Arcadia in the Friday night match at the Stevens Institute of Technology Invitational. The Eagles fought off three match points in the contest before falling 17-15 in the fifth set.
The No. 19 Eagles played the match without a pair of veterans in
Morgan Kline and
Sarah Roberts, so what was already going to be a young line-up got younger.
Regardless, Eastern built a 13-7 lead in the opening set before the Knights put together a 10-2 run to grab a 17-15 lead. The Eagles had two set points in the first, but Arcadia reeled off four straight points to win 26-24. Eastern hit just .120 in the set.
The Eastern offense found its rhythm in the second set. Led by six kills from
Caroline Shelby, the Eagles hit .650 to win 25-19. The Knights hit .409 to stay in the set.
In the third set, the Eagles struggled to get the offense going and managed only eight kills in a 25-19 loss. Arcadia scored the final five points of the set to pull away. The Knights hit .422 in the set and had four aces.
Eastern's defense helped the team to reach a fifth set. Shelby had ten digs and
Miranda Kauffman had nine in a set that the Eagles won despite hitting only .096. Arcadia served for the match at 26-25, but
Ally Spillane reeled off three consecutive kills to take the contest to a fifth set.
The fifth set started out very well. The Eagles jumped to a 5-0 lead and led 8-6 when the two teams switched sides. When Arcadia tied the set at 13-13, the match came down to which team could side out and score two points. The Eagles fought off a pair of match points, but were unable to capitalize on scoring chances down the stretch. The Eagles had three service errors in the fifth set and 15 in the match.
Shelby had a team-high 19 kills. Spillane had 12, and
Michelle Paulsen had nine kills and a pair of blocks while hitting .467.
Kylie McCusker had 45 assists. Allison Elechko and Lizzie Joseph had 13 kills apiece to lead Arcadia.
Eastern is back on the court tomorrow against NYU and Christopher Newport University.
