ST.DAVIDS, Pa.– Three days after picking up a huge five-set win in the MAC Commonwealth at Stevenson, Eastern University Women's Volleyball overcame a slow start to earn a four-set home win over the Franklin & marshall College Diplomats.
Logan Martin finished with a team high 13 kills.
The Eagles (10-1) dropped the opening set 25-23 and were behind 20-14 in the second.
Grace Casagrande stepped to the service line after a side-out and served seven-straight to flip the momentum of the match completely. The sophomore libero had three aces in the run and put the Diplomats on the defensive on the other points. The Diplomats (4-4) tied the set at 22-22 and 23-23, but the Eagles had control and scored a point on a
Kelsey Bradshaw ace to level the match at a set apiece.
Though the Diplomats jumped to 5-2 lead in the third, the Eagles stayed aggressive on the serve and built a 15-10 advantage before closing out the set 25-17.
Bridgette Kelly was the difference in the third set. The first-year middle had seven of her nine kills in the frame. Eastern hit .333 with 16 total kills in the third set.
Bradshaw put together another good run of serves in the fourth set. The rookie defensive specialist served for five points to build an 11-6 lead. After F & M grabbed some points back, Kelly served for four points for a 16-10 edge. She had two aces in the run. Kelly finished the night with a team-high four aces. Eastern had 14 total. The Eastern lead grew to 22-12 with Martin serving for four points.
Natalie Saxton was involved on back-to-back blocks in the burst. She combined with
Jailene Lugo on the first and
Kaylyn Zeigler on the second. Saxton finished with five blocks and six kills.
F & M closed the gap late, but Zeigler delivered a pair of side-out kills to end the match.
Elle Jiron-Bujanda finished with 21 assists and 11 digs.
Grace Casagrande and
Trinity Gruber each had 12 digs.
"It was another come from behind win for this group," Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said. "It was an unfocused start with a lot of unforced errors. We eventually started to put some attacks and serves together to make runs.
Bridget and Natalie had good nights offensively and
Grace Casagrande held our defense together late in the match."
The Eagles have another short night. They host Rowan University at 11:00 am and then will play Goucher at 3:00. The two teams will play each other at 1:00. The Eastern team and coaching staff ask that those in attendance wear pink in support of Rowan Head Coach Deana Jesperson and her battle against Breast Cancer. Coach Jesperson has been a longtime opponent and friend of Eastern Volleyball and recently completed chemotherapy. She has worked with an organization called Unite for Her, and the Eastern program hopes to support that organization as it supports her and many others.
