GRANTHAM, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball saw a quick start go for naught as the host Messiah University Falcons won the final three sets to hand the Eagles their first MAC Commonwealth loss. Grace Casagrande finished with 35 digs, and Logan Martin had 19 kills.

The Eagles (19-3, 5-1) used an efficient side-out game and five kills from Martin to win the opening set 25-16. Eastern never trailed int he set and was successful on 13-of-17 side-out chances. Solid serve-receive enabled the Eagles to get the middles involved and the team hit .267.

The trend continued into the second set. The Eagles were ahead for much of the set before the Falcons tied the set at 19-19. Bridgette Kelly put away kill for a hideout, and the Eagles pulled away to a 25-21. Eastern was successful on 14-of-21 side-out chances and hit .225.

The Falcons (15-8, 4-2) built on their progress in the second set and jumped to an early lead in the third. Down 19-15, the Eagles earned a side-out on a Rachel Curran kill and grabbed a brief lead at 20-19 on four service points from Trinity Gruber. Messiah scored three points on serve and was flawless in the side-out game and claimed the third set 25-22. The Eagles' side-out percentage slid further to 52 percent and they hit just .179.

The fourth set saw those numbers slide further. The Eagles hit just .058 and were able to side-out at only 45 percent. Messiah grabbed a lead early and held on to win 25-18 and force a fifth set.

The hosts rode the momentum to a decisive 15-7 fifth-set win. The Eagles led 4-2 early, but managed only two kills and Messiah scored ten points on serve.

Bridgette Kelly finished with 11 kills and six blocks and Natalie Saxton had nine kills and three blocks. Elle Jiron-Bujanda had 45 assists.

Eastern entered the evening in first place int he MAC Commonwealth and the Eagles still control their own destiny for earning the top seed in the league. They have a pair of home league matches against York and Lebanon Valley next week. York is currently tied with Eastern and Stevenson with one loss. If the Eagles win out, they will hand York a second loss and hold the head-to-head tie-breaker over Stevenson.

Tuesday's match against York starts at 7:00 pm. The Eagles play a pair of non-league matches at Susquehanna this weekend.