HAVERFORD, Pa.– The No. 16 Eastern University Women's Volleyball team settled for a split in two matches on the opening day of the Haverford Invitational. The Eagles beat John Carroll University in four sets in the opener before dropping a five-set heartbreaker to the No. 10 University of Mary Washington Eagles in the late game.

The Eagles (1-1) struggled out of the gate against John Carroll and split the opening two sets before pulling away in the third and fourth sets. Eastern hit .303 as a team in taking the third set 25-20 and .333 in claiming a 25-13 win to close the match.

A pair of first-year outside hitters led the Eastern attack with volume. Caroline Shelby powered home 15 kills and Ally Spillane put away 11. Sarah Roberts hit a very efficient .588 with 10 kills out of the middle.

The second game would have been more fitting as a late-round NCAA Tournament than an opening day clash in the back gym. Both Eastern and Mary Washington were in Oshkosh for the NCAA Quarterfinals last fall. The Mary Washington Eagles returned most of their squad. The Eastern Eagles graduated three All-Americans.

Shelby and Spillane each carried a heavy work load in the marathon match. Shelby put away 21 kills on 51 swings will hitting an impressive .373. Spillane had a 13 kills.

Eastern won the opening sets 25-16 and 25-15 and led 19-12 in the third set. The Mary Washington Eagles showed their grit with an impressive come-from behind effort in the third set. Eastern hit .457 in the first set and .429 in the second.

"They are good." Eastern Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said of his opponent after the match. "We played really well, and they made plays. In looking at how young our group is, I think we have to see a lot of positives in this. We certainly wanted to win, but they did as well."

Eastern had a match point in the third set, but Mary Washington pulled back and claimed the sideout battle 29-27. Eastern had only three hitting errors thorugh the first three sets.

Mary Washington grabbed the lead and held on for a 25-20 win in the fourth set to set up a spectacular fifth set.

Eastern led 8-7 when the teams switched sides and built a 14-12 lead. Mary Washington was able to sideout and score two points to force Eastern to sideout. The Eagles did, but Mary Washington returned the favor and ended the match with a 17-15 win.

In addition to the play of Shelby and Spillane, Birtwistle noted the effectiveness of his team's block. Michelle Paulsen had 11 blocks and Morgan Shemonski had nine. Shemonski also added nine kills and hit .360. Sydney MacDonald had 15 digs and served a team-high 27 times, and Miranda Kauffman picked up 24 digs. Morgan Kline and Kylie McKusker split setting duties for the day.

Eastern will not have much time to rest. They have two more matches in the Haverford Tournament tomorrow. The Eagles will play Stevens, the team they beat in the Regional Final last year at 10 AM before taking on Rowan at 2.