ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Volleyball split a pair of matches agaisnt quality opponents on the final day of the regular season. The Eagles (23-6) beat Arcadia (21-10) in four sets in the morning but fell to McDaniel (19-7) in four sets in the afternoon. Caroline Shelby led the Eagles with 23 kills for the day.

Top Performers:
Caroline Shelby (23 kills, 8 aces, 17 digs) Michelle Paulsen (17 kills, .359 hitting, 7 blocks) Sarah Roberts (18 kills) Cecilia Bauer (30 digs)

How It Happened:
The Eagles ground out a tough 25-22 first-set win to set the tone for the Arcadia match. Six players had multiple kilsl in the opneing set and the Eagles hit .242 as a group. The Eastern ofense rode that momentum to a convincing 25-14 win in the second. Led by three kills from Sammy Rogers, the Eagles hit .429 in the set.

After dropping the third set 25-21, the Eagles hit .346 in the fourth to close out the match with a 25-19 win. Shelby had four of her 11 kills in the final set.

The Eagles jumped out to a quick lead with a 25-13 first-set win against McDaniel, but the Green Terror bounced back to claim the final three sets by close scores to win the match. Eastern trailed 23-18 in the final set, but rode a strong serve from Katie Stenby to tie the score at 23-23 before McDaniel could earn a sideout. Eastern fought off three match points before McDaniel closed out the contest with a 28-26 win.

Shelby had 12 kills in the match. Paulsen and Roberts each had ten. Stenby and Bauer each had 15 digs.

Coach Birtwistle Says:
"It is tough to end the season on a loss but proud of the girls for taking two-out-of-three on the weekend. We're excited about the post-season ahead of us and looking to play our best ball. Caroline has a good offensive weekend with nearly 40 kills in three matches. Michelle and Sarah also did a great job offensively and blocking. We will continue to focus on the serve and passing game this week."

Up Next:
The Eagles will host the Misericordia University Cougars in the opening round of the MAC Freedom Tournament on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm. For the second year in a row, the Eagles are the second seed in the tournament. DeSales earned the top seed and will host FDU-Florham. The Championship match will be next Saturday.