ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball (26-3) fought off a fierce rally from the visiting York College Spartans to earn a four-set win and a trip to Saturday's MAC Commonwealth Championship match. Hannah Pringle put away 15 kills to lead the Eastern attack.

In the final set, the Eagles found a critical six-point run with Grace Cooper serving in the fourth to create a 13-7 lead and the important margin in the match. After a Jailene Lugo kill for a sideout, Elle Jiron-Bujanda powered home a point on second contact, and Cooper pounded an ace. Logan Martin powered home a kill in the middle of a pair of blocks with Emma Flores. Martin finished with nine kills and a. .368 hitting percentage.

The Spartans (17-12) cut the six-point lead to three, but the Eagles scored a point with Viviana Fragoso scoring and forged a big run with Grace Casagrande serving. Jiron-Bujanda took the eagles to match point with a final serving run before Lugo ended the match with a sideout.

The Eastern offense was very effective in the opening set. Despite hitting just .243, the Eagles were able to get all their hitters involved and were successful on 15-of-19 sideout chances. Martin had four kills on seven swings and Bridgette Kelly had three on eight. The Eagles took the lead at 6-5 and never trailed on the way to a 25-18 win.

Eastern's four second-set four aces likely felt like more as they served aggressively and put the Spartans on the defense from the outset. Fragoso served the first six points of the match. Jiron-Bujanda, Kelly, and Cooper all put together aggressive serving runs to build a 20-8  lead. That lead held as the Eagles won 25-13.

With their backs to the wall, the visitors served very aggressively and built an 8-1 lead to start the fourth.  The lead emboldened the Spartans, and the lead grew to 20-11. The Eagles ground out several small runs but were unable to forge the big run needed to catch the Spartans before the end of the set. York won the third 25-21.

"They [York] knew they had to go for it and they served really well," Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said. "I think we did a good job keeping our composure and getting back on track."

The Eagles will host second-seeded Stevenson at 2 pm on Saturday. This will be the third straight season the two programs will meet in St. Davids with the Championship on the line. Eastern won both the 2021 and 2022 Championships in five-set classics. Not including 2020, Eastern University Women's Volleyball has played in a Conference Championship match in every season since 1995.