ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Volleyball topped the visiting Misericordia University Cougars in the three sets to advance to Saturday's MAC Freedom Championship. Caroline Shelby led the Eagles with 11 kills. 

How It Happened:
The Eagles, who will now be playing in a conference final for the 25th year in a row, built a 7-4 lead on three points from Sammy Rogers and then extended the edge to 16-5 on eight points with Katie Stenby at the serving line. The Eagles hit .429 in taking the opening set, 25-16. Shelby led the way with kills on all five of her attacks in the first set.

The Eagles struggled out of the gate in the second set, but was able to flip the score behind a strong presence at the net from Michelle Paulsen. Eastern trailed 5-1 before building a 13-7 lead. Paulsen had a pair of blocks in the run, and the Eagles got kills from Sammy Rogers, Lindsey Heisey, and Shelby to grab control of the set. Misericordia (25-10) cut the deficit to 18-15 before Morgan Kline reeled off five points on serve to push the Eastern lead to 24-15. With Kline serving, Paulsen picked up another three blocks.

The 2018 MAC Freedom Player of the Year had five of her six blocks int he second set. Paulsen finished with four kills, four aces, and six blocks. 

After winning the second set 25-18, the Eagles (24-6) stated slowly again in the third. Head Coach Mark Birtwistle called a timeout with his team trailing 10-7. The Eagles responded with better passing and a strong service gain. Cecilia Bauer earned a point on serve with a block form Paulsen and Shelby and Kline served a pair of aces in a four-point run. The junior setter finsished the day with 31 assists, ten digs, two blocks, two aces, and two kills. 

The Cougars fought back to within a point before Paulsen earned five points on serve to put the home side up 22-15. She had three aces in the run. 

tonight was the final home match for Sarah Roberts and Paulsen. The two middle hitters were honored before the match in a short ceremony. Both were recognized on today's All-Conference list. The duo will play on Saturday to return to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in their careers. Roberts finished with eight kills. 

Coach Birtwistle Says:
"We accomplished our first goal for the week. We set out to play this weekend and we will be doing that. We were able to get our outsides going tonight. Caroline hit .400 and Sammy had ten kills and hit .316. We are looking forward to playing at DeSales on Saturday."

Up Next:
The Eagles will play at DeSales at 2:00 pm on Saturday. The winner of that contest will claim the MAC Freedom's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Eastern and DeSales have played in the MAC Freedom Championship match in nine of the last ten years. Saturday will be the eighth-consecutive finals featuring the two schools. Eastern has won all ten MAC Freedom Championships since joining the league in 2008.