FREDERICKSBURG, Va.– Eastern University Volleyball scored 10 of the final 13 points of the match to erase an 8-5 fifth set deficit and advance to the second round with a thrilling five-set win over the Marymount University Saints. Grace Casagrande picked up a season-high 28 digs and reached the 1000 dig plateau in the win.

The Saints (19-16) forced a fifth set with a 25-19 win in the fourth and used a four-point run to build an 8-5 lead when the teams switched sides. The Eagles stopped the run with a sideout on  an attack error and then found their own momentum with Bridgette Kelly serving. Martin and Peyton Wheeler combined on a block to pull the Eagles to within one and then Wheeler delivered a huge cross-court kill for a 9-8 lead. The first year outside hitter finished with a career-high 11 kills.

Kelly continued to serve aggressively and the Eagles went up 11-8 as the Saints missed the court on consecutive out-of-system swings. The Saints scored a point on serve, but Wheeler came up with her final kill of the match to restore a two-point lead. When Martin put away the 14th Eastern point on a sweeping slide, it sent Viviana Fragoso to the service line. The first-year defensive specialist served aggressively to force a defensive swing and Elle Jiron-Bujanda found a hole for the final kill of the match.

The Eagles (24-5) rode a six-point run with Fragoso at the service line to break open the first set. She took the ball with the Eagles leading 13-11. The Eagles were perfect in their final three sideout chances of the set and cruised to a 25-14 win. Martin and Hannah Pringle each had five kills as Eastern hit .481 in the opening frame.

The two sides were tied at 11 in the second set, but the Saints pushed forward with a run that mirrored the Eastern run in the first and pulled out a 25-20 win. Marymount pounded out 16 kills and hit .324 in the second set.

Eastern trailed 18-17 in the third, but Lexi Couch earned a sideout kill and Kaylyn Zeigler served the final seven points of the set for a 25-18 win. Including one off the tape by Zeigler in the final run, the Eagles had five aces in the set. With eight digs in the set, Casagrande hit 500 for season in the middle of the set, and then reached 1000 for her career on overhead effort that ultimately resulted in a kill from Martin and a 21-18 lead.

In the fourth set, a five-point run for the Saints turned a 14-13 Eastern lead into an 18-15 Marymount edge. The Saints were perfect on their last five sideout attempts to force a fifth set.

Martin hit .500 for the match and finished with four blocks. Jiron-Bujanda had 45 assists and 13 digs. Both Kelly and Pringle finished with nine kills.

"I wish it was something I told them," Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said when asked what happened when the teams changes sides in the fifth. "I trust them to stay in the moment and to make plays. They did a great job of just being in each play down the stretch."

The win is the 801st of Birtwistle's career and his 30th win in the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles will face the host University of Mary Washington Eagles tomorrow night at 7:00 pm. Mary Washington earned their trip to the second round with a three-set win over Cedar Crest University.