LANCASTER, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball ran its winning streak to 14 with a hard-fought five-set win at Lancaster Bible College. Eastern won the opening two sets, but the Chargers (8-11) rallied to tie the match and force a fifth set. The Eagles earned six of the final seven points of the match to pull away to a 15-10 win in the fifth.

In a 25-16 opening set win, the Eagles (19-1) hit .316 and with aggressive serving and solid defense held the hosts to only seven kills. Logan Martin led six hitters with multiple kills in the opening set with  four kills. LBC tied the set at 15-15, but after a kill from Natalie Saxton led to a side-out, Grace Casagrande served six points and Trinity Gruber served the final two. The Eagles were successful in 64 percent of their side-out opportunities in the frame.

They had less success on side-out chances in the second set, but that was about the only thing that went wrong. Eastern hit .310 as a team and consistently put the Chargers out of system with aggressive serving. The Chargers converted only 5-of-25 side-outs and dropped the set 25-10.

When the two programs last met in 1995, tournament volleyball was often played best-of-three with side-out scoring.

The LBC side used a five-point run late in the third to build a 20-15 edge. Both Grace Will and Casagrande served for two points, but the hosts held the five-point lead to force a fourth set. The Eagles hit just .114 with nine hitting errors in the set.

The two sides traded points through the early part of the fourth and were tied at 22-22 before the Chargers scored three points on serve to force a fifth.

Tonight became the fourth five-setter of the year for the Eagles. After dropping the first one to Haverford, the Eagles have now won the next three.

The Chargers rode the momentum to a 4-1 lead in the fifth, but after Bridgette Kelly stopped the run with a kill and Saxton and Martin combined on a stuff block. Kelly served the Eagles to a 6-4 lead and though LBC scored a pair of points on serve, the Eagles stayed within a single side-out of the lead.

After Elle Jiron-Bujanda served for a pair of points, the Eagles held a 9-7 lead. Jailene Lugo put the Eagles up 12-10 and sent Casagrande back to the service line. The sophomore libero watched an LBC attack go long for a 13-10 lead, and then Kelly delivered a huge solo block to give the Eagles a match point. Casagrande delivered the final point on an ace.

Kelly finished the match with 13 kills and a .545 hitting percentage. She had a pair of aces and eight blocks. Saxton had 12 kills and three blocks. Jiron-Bujanda had 32 assists.

"Natalie and Bridgett were both very good tonight," Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said after the match. " We served well early and in the fifth set. We have to get our defense ready for the upcoming matches."

The Eagles host Haverford on Friday night. The Fords are the only team to beat Eastern this year. That came in five sets on the second weekend of the year.