ITHACA, N.Y.– When Eastern University Women's Volleyball dropped the opening two sets to the Tufts University Jumbos in the opening match of the NCAA Tournament, it was just the second time this year the Eagles had been down two in a match. As they did in their regular-season win over MAC Commonwealth rival Stevenson, the Eagles (28-3) found a way to grind out an heroic reverse sweep in just a little less than three hours on court. With the gritty five-set win, the Eagles advance to the second round of the Ithaca regional for a 4:30 match against the New York University Violets. 

The Eagles needed some third-set heroics to extend the match. With a 24-22 lead, the Jumbos had a pair of match points. Logan Martin pounded out a kill for a critical sideout and Grace Casagrande tied the match with a service ace. The Jumbos earned a sideout point to earn another match point, but Hannah Pringle pounded out her fourth kill of the set to fight off yet another match point. Elle Jiron-Bujanda served out the next two points to extend the match. 

After the third-set win, assistant coach Maria Horning came over to the team huddle and reminded the group of the quote from John Wooden that was a theme for her 2011 team and a word that Head Coach Mark Birtwistle had shared before the match. 

Competitive greatness is, Wooden said, " A love for the hard battle, knowing it offers you the opportunity to be at your best when your best is required." After Horning started it, the entire team finished the quote. 

The work was hardly done. The Eagles dug in for a battle. 

"Tufts is a really good team," Birtwistle said. "They are big and physical and run a fast offense. We had to make some adjustments, but we also just did a great job keeping points alive. Casa had 35 digs, and Coop [Grace Cooper] and Viv [Viviana Fragoso] were each in double figures. The defense had to play well. This group just believed in each other and kept battling."

The Tufts defense matched the Eagles point for point. Throughout the fourth set, the Jumbo block sent balls back, and forced the Eastern defense to pick up balls for their hitters. 

In a set with only one three-point lead throughout, Tufts won the race to 19, but a three-point eastern run with Fragoso serving flipped the momentum. Martin earned the sideout with a big solo block, and Pringle pounded out consecutive kills for a 20-19 lead. The Eagles finally carved out a two-point edge at 23-21 and were able to trade sideouts to reach set point. Trinity Gruber served aggressively and the Jumbos wound up hitting an out-of-system ball out of bounds. 

To open the fifth set, Jiron-Bujanda dumped a tight pass over on two for a quick sideout point. Casagrande then took over at the service line. The senior libero served four-straight points for a 5-0 lead. Bridgette Kelly had a solo block and a kill to start the run, and Casagrande forced a timeout with her fourth ace of the match. The Jumbos earned a sideout and closed the gap to 5-3, but the Eastern serve-receive offense did not allow another run, and the Eagles scored points with Gruber, Jiron-Bujanda, and Fragoso at the line.

Up 14-8 Jiron-Bujanda took a pass while running away from the net and found Martin running hard to the right side. The junior middle was patient enough and met the set on time for her 14th kill of the match. 

"It was a little off the net," Jiron-Bujanda said. "As a setter you make decisions all the time. I thought about taking the safe set, but I knew Logan was going to be there and I went back over my shoulder." 

The Eagles were successful on 77% of their sideout chances in final set. 

Pringle finished with a match-high 20 kills, and Martin hit .345 with 14 kills and two blocks. Kelly had 13 kills,  six blocks and an ace. Casagrande's 35 digs are a season-best and one short of her career-best mark. Jiron-Bujanda had 53 assists and six aces. 

The Eagles hit .297 in the opening set, but the Jumbos hit .432. The Eastern squad gave a preview of what the match would look like when Tufts went up 24-20. Pringle earned a kill for a sideout and Casagrande put the Eagles up 25-24 with four-straight service points. The Jumbos eventually stopped the run and won 28-26.

Tufts had five second-set blocks, and won the frame 25-21 to go up 2-0. 

Birtwistle was non-committal on ranking out this win against his team's other first-round wins, but he spoke of how proud he was of the energy his entire group brought. He also took time to point to Pringle's day.

"It takes a lot for a hitter to stay aggressive when you are getting blocked," he said. "We tell our hitters that they are going to get blocked and that have to attack, but Hannah really kept attacking. Elle did a really nice job getting our middles involved. We will get ready for tomorrow."

The last time the two programs met was in the opening round of the 2021 National Tournament. Tufts won that match and advanced to the Elite Eight. Eastern's first round win is 17th first-round win for the Eastern program. Eastern beat Marymount in five sets to open last year's NCAA Tournament. Eastern has made ten Regional Finals. 

Eastern and NYU will play at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon. NYU advanced with a three-set win over Eastern Nazarene.