GRANTHAM, Pa.– On a night when the local professional baseball team relied on the long ball to earn an important win, Eastern University Women's Volleyball ground out an important league win with gritty defense, aggressive serving, and a few key kill s in critical moments. The Eagles took a step toward securing a spot in the post-season with a hard-fought 3-0 decision in front of a highly partisan crowd at Messiah University. Jailene Lugo had nine kills and Bridgette Kelly had eight as the Eagles won three close sets.

The Eagles (16-3, 4-0)  jumped to leads in all three sets.The Eastern lead grew to 14-5 in the opening set, but the Falcons fought back with a run to close the deficit to 19-17 and force Eastern Head Coach Mark Birtwistle into calling a timeout. After a solid serve-receive, Hannah Pringle delivered a big kill to the back corner to stop the Messiah run and move the Eagles into a different rotation, Grace Casagrande and Trinity Gruber each served for points and the Eagles closed out the set with a. 25-22 win on an Emma Flores kill.

The Eagles hit just .083 in the first set, but the defense behind the Eastern block kept up ball after ball. Casagrande had eight of her 17 digs in the first set, but eight different Eastern players recorded digs in the set. Led by Logan Martin with three, the Eagles had 11 kills but also posted eight errors as the Falcons put up a big block.

The Eagles never trailed in the first set, but the second set saw the lead change several times after the Falcons rallied from an 8-2 deficit. After Messiah tied the set at 12-12, there was only one instance, when Messiah led 18-16, when a team had more than a one-point edge. Jailene Lugo delivered a key kill for a sideout and Bridget Kelly delivered an aggressive serve to force the Falcons into a hitting error. Messiah earned a sideout, but the critical second set stayed within a point the rest of the way.

The Falcons (13-6, 2-2)  had the advantage with the lead at 23-22, but after an Eastern sideout and another big Lugo kill  with Elle Jiron-Bujanda at the service line, they would be working from behind. Kelly delivered the kill to give the Eagles their third set-point opportunity at 26-25. The junior middle then delivered an ace to end the set.

The Eagles hit only .102 in the second, but the Eagles again kept the ball off the floor and found enough points to win the critical frame. Viviana Fragoso and Gruber both had five digs in the second.

Fragoso served five-straight points to start the third. Martin had a kill and a block in the opening run. The Eagles held that lead to 17-12, but again, the Falcons showed their fight, closed the gap to two points at 19-17, and forced another Eastern timeout. Out of the break, Martin delivered a key solo block to stop the Messiah run. The two teams traded sideouts before Jiron-Bujanda put together a three-point run to take the Eagles to match point. She delivered an ace, Kelly came up with a solo block, and Pringle delivered a kill in the critical run. The Falcons earned. Sideout and a service point, before Kelly ended the match with her final kill of the day.

"Messiah is a hard-working team, and they fought the entire match," Head  Coach Mark Birtwistle said after the win. "I don't think we played our best offensive game tonight, but we were solid on defense. Casa and Trin both had double-digit digs and Viv had nine. They all had strong defensive and passing nights. The win showed a maturity and resilience that the team has been working on all season."

Lugo hit .600 for the match and Kelly hit .421.

The win sets up a two-way tie atop the MAC Commonwealth standings. Eastern and Stevenson will meet at Stevenson(16-4, 4-0)  next Wednesday evening. The two teams have met in the last two MAC Commonwealth Championship matches.