ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University picked upa  three-set win over Widener in the final match of the day to save a split in the teams' first home MAC tri-match. The Eagles fell in three sets to league-leading Arcadia in the morning match.

How It Happened:
The Eagles hit .247 in the match against Widener. In the first set, Anthony Smith had four kills and the Eagles tallied 12 digs to hold the Pride to a .091 hitting percentage. Eastern was successful on 14-of-20 side-out chances and did not have a receiving error on the way to a 25-20 win to open the match. 

Eastern improved the side-out percentage with 10-of-14 successful chances in the second set. Four different Eastern players each picked up aces as the team committed to serving aggressively and putting the Pride under pressure on the way to a 25-13 win.

The Eagles (7-6, 2-6 MAC) had 13 kills and hit .296 in the third. Cameron Parsons moved the ball around to six different hitters and put down two balls on his own to lift the Eagles to a 25-19 win. Eastern was able to side-out at 69 percent in the match. 

Smith finished with a team-high eight kills and Nicholas Hulbert had seven. Noah Westbrook put away four balls on seven swings in the match. Parsons had four kills and 25 assists. The Eagles had only one receiving error in 45 chances. Bruno Vargas was a perfect 15-for-15 on serve-receive. Christian Knaub finished with a team-high eight digs.

Against the No. 14 Knights, the Eagles showed some good plays, but also ran into problems with Arcadia's big serves and formidable block. The Knights finished with nine aces and numerous other points on overpasses or out-of system attacks from the Eagles. Smith had five kills in the match. 

Coach Syracuse says:
"We had some moments where we played with them for rallies, but they did a great job picking things up. We would block a ball at the net and their defense would pick up the ball and they would get another swing. They are so big at the net, that we needed to be perfect in our passing to get opportunities to hit. We had some good moments, but not enough of them."

"Against Widener, I thought we brought a good serving attitude. We were able to attack without errors, and that pressure allowed us to score on sere. Noah and Christian did a great job at the service line, and Cameron and Darren were also able to put the pressure on as well." 

"Bruno's first contact in the Widener match was outstanding. We were able to get Noah and Gabe Perez involved because of our good passing. Cameron did a really nice job of moving the ball around to different hitters. We have been working really hard on transition in practice and it showed with our second-chance points."

Up Next: 
The Eagles are at Misericordia on Wednesday.