HAVERFORD, Pa. – Less than 18 hours after dropping a five-set heartbreaker to the tenth-ranked team in the nation, Eastern University Women's Volleyball found itself in another five-set test against an NCAA Tournament team at the Haverford Invitational. The Eagles rallied in the fifth set to beat Stevens Institute of Technology in a rematch of last year's NCAA Regional Final. Eastern beat Rowan University in three sets later in the day to finish the tournament.

Eastern beat Stevens in three sets last fall in the NCAA Tournament, but the No. 16 Eagles lost three All-Americans from that team. In the early going the Eagles looked like they were going to make quick work of the Ducks. They build a 20-9 lead and won the opening set 25-18. Eastern hit .344 in the first frame.

The second set was more of a grind. Both teams defended well, but the Eagles emerged with a 26-24 win to go up 2-0.  The Ducks, however, did not back down. They pulled away to a 25-18 win and won the fourth set 25-20.

Head Coach Mark Birtwistle put the Eagles in a 5-1 with Morgan Kline setting for the fifth set. The Eagles opened the set with a point on a double block from Michelle Paulsen and Morgan Shemonski, but the Ducks reeled off four straight points to grab the early advantage in the race to 15 points.

Stevens led 7-4 when Shemonski put away a huge crosscourt kill to earn the serve. Cecilia Bauer started an Eastern run with an ace. Sarah Roberts and Ally Spillane put away kills to put Eagles up 8-7 as the teams switched ends.

Stevens called a timeout and won two points before Roberts put down another ball in transition for and 11-9 Eastern lead. The Ducks earned a hideout, but Caroline Shelby put down another kill to restore the two-points edge. after a pair of Stevens' miscues, Shelby finished the match with her 20th kill.

Shelby, who had 69 kills in her first four matches, earned all tournament honors in her first weekend of college volleyball.

"She is going to be very good," Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said. "She told me today that she had never been as nervous as she was before yesterday's first match. She got the nerves out of the way and played really well. This was a very good weekend for our freshmen. To get a pair of matches against NCAA Tournament teams in the first weekend is a good start."

Spillane proved to be a very good option at the other outside hitter spot. She had 42 kills in her first weekend.

The Eagles made sure that the Rowan match did not have the same drama as the two previous matches. Eastern hit a stunning .440 on the way to a 25-13 win in the opening set and hit a very respectable .258 on the way to a  25-11 win in the second set before closing out the match 25-23.

"We did a good job of getting them to be defensive early," Birtwistle said, "and we are able to run our offense in transition."

Shelby had 13 kills and Spillane put down nine. Roberts finished the match with eight kills on 14 attacks. Kline and Kylie McCusker split setting duties in the match. McKusker had 15 assists and Kline had 22.

Miranda Kauffman finished the weekend with a team-high 68 digs, and Paulsen had 22 blocks.

The Eagles (3-1) will play in Virginia at Washington and Lee next weekend.