WASHINGTON, D.C.– Eastern University Volleyball found enough firepower in the fourth set to pull past the host Gallaudet University Bison (5-9) on the opening night of the Worthington Classic. Logan Martin finished with a team-high 13 kills.

The Eagles (14-1) looked positioned to pull away early as Grace Will served a seven point run for a 9-2 edge. The Eastern lead grew to 17-6 before the hosts began extending rallies and earning points on serve. The Bison closed the gap to 21-16 before Eastern found four side-out points to grab a 1-0 lead. Eastern hit just .109 in the opening set.

Both teams had big runs in the second set. The hosts brought their home crowd into the game with an 8-to-1 run to build a 10-7 lead. Kaylyn Ziegler ended the run on an out-of-system kill from libero Grace Will. Will finished with 21 digs and six assists. Trinity Gruber served the Eagles to a 14-10 lead with a six-point run.

Gallaudet, however, battled back to tie the set at 18-18. Jailene Lugo earned a side-out point, and Will served four-straight points for a 23-18 edge. The Bison scored twice and forced an Eastern timeout before Bridgette Kelly delivered a pair of kills for a 25-21 win.

The Eagles fell behind late in the closely contested third set, and the Bison were able to side-out effectively down the stretch to claim a 25-23 win and force a fourth.

With the fourth set tied 15-15, Kaylyn Ziegler delivered another out-of-system kill for a critical side-out. Gruber then served the Eagles to 20-15 lead. Ziegler and Bridgette Kelly each had a kill and combined on a block in the critical four-point run.

Eastern's final four points came from Martin. The first-year outside hitter had a block and three kills down the stretch for the 25-21 final margin.

Ashley Thorsted had 31 assists and 11 digs while running the offense in three of the four sets. The Eagles finished with nine aces and only three serving errors. Martin had 14 digs. Kelly finished with 10 kills and three blocks and Ziegler had 12 kills and three blocks.

"With injury and some illness, we had to make some adjustments with the line-up." Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said. "Grace Will moved to the libero position and did a nice job passing and playing defense. Kaylyn did a really nice job tonight hitting on both pins. She was put in the Serve receive  pattern and passed well. Our serving was really good tonight. We didn't miss a serve till the 4th set.  For our first time playing at Gallaudet with this young team, I think we stayed focused and got the job done."

The Eagles will wake up early to take on Catholic at 9 am and will finish their time in D.C. with a match against former MAC Freedom rival DeSales. The two sides played twice a year every year between 2008 and 2019. Tomorrow's 1:00 pm game will be the first neutral-site game between the two schools since 2000.