HAVERFORD, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball claimed a pair of three-set wins to open the year at the Haverford Invitational.
Caroline Shelby led the Eagles with 29 kills, and
Ally Spillane added 20 kills and hit .447 as the Eagles beat the Wells College Express(0-1) and the Medaille College Mustangs (1-1) to start the year.
How It Happened:
The Eagles hit .355 in the opening set and cruised to a 25-14 win.
The second set, however, turned into a struggle. The Eagles fell behind by five early int he set and struggled to score on serve. The Express built the lead to 17-10 and held a 23-17 lead when Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle took his second timeout of the set. The Eagles earned the serve on a service error and
Kylie McCusker entered the game for the first time to serve. To that point, the Eagles had five service errors in the set. McCusker served two points to force a Wells timeout at 23-20.
Out of the break, McCusker continued to serve aggressively and the Eagles added two more points to force another Express time out.
Hannah Picconi delivered a kill on the second point to pull the Eagles within a point. Out of the break, the eagles tied the set on an attack error and then McCusker put a serve off the tape for an ace to get the Eagles an improbable set point. Spillane put the final ball down to lift the Eagles to a 2-0 match lead. The Eagles hit just .143 in the set.
After falling behind, 10-4, in the fourth set, the Eagles closed the gap with points on serve from McCusker,
Cecilia Bauer, and
Katie Stenby to pull ahead 15-14 and force a timeout. Though the Express earned a sideout and scored a point, the Eagles answered back and
Morgan Kline started a run of five earned points with an ace. McCusker served the final point of the match for a 25-21 win in the set.
Shelby finished with a match-high 17 kills and Spillane had 12. Kline dished out 31 assists and Stenby had 14 digs.
The second match against Medaille did not have the dramatic comeback. The Eagles hit .202 for the match. Kline added 29 more assists and Bauer finished with a career high ten kills.
Coach Birtwistle Says:
"[These were] two good wins to start the season. We had moments where we played really well where we dug and transitioned into attack or just had solid sideout play. Overall our serving has to improve as a team to give ourselves better opportunities to score."
"The freshmen are doing a nice job of learning on the fly. They had a great preseason and it was nice to see them play with confidence."
Up Next:
The Eagles are back at Haverford College tomorrow morning. They will play the host Fords at 10 am and will battle Vassar at noon.
