ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball is set to host the Stevenson University Mustangs in a third straight MAC Commonwealth Championship match. Since Eastern joined the MAC Commonwealth, Eastern has won all five matches between the two programs in five sets. The two teams will meet at 2 PM on Saturday.
The second-seeded Mustangs (22-6) earned their way to the MAC Commonwealth Championship match with four-set win over Messiah. Though both sides scored 91 points in the match, the Mustangs took close wins in the first and fourth sets to secure the win. Darian Dilde put away 15 kills and Raleigh Kimball put down 13 balls. Dilde has 250 kills in 99 sets and is hitting a Division III-best .440. Kimball and sophomore outside hitter Kylie DesLauriers both also average over two kills per set.
As a team, the Mustangs are second in the league in hitting percentage (.205) and third in hitting percentage against (.119). Makala Thompson and Samantha Simmers share setting duties. Kayla Vaeth sits second in the league with 4.78 digs per set. Before Eastern entered the league after the COVID hiatus, the Mustangs had won eight consecutive MAC Commonwealth titles.
As they did in last year's Championship match, the Mustangs won the first two sets in the match in Maryland in October. The Eagles led wire-to-wire to win the third set 25-23 and ran away with the fourth set to force the short fifth set. Serving runs with Game Cooper and
Viviana Fragoso at the line helped the Eagles rally from an 8-5 deficit to win the fifth set 15-12.
The Eagles (26-3) have won 24 of their last 25 matches and enter the weekend on a 13-match winning streak. While
Hannah Pringle leads the Eagles with 3.52 kills per set,
Elle Jiron-Bujanda has been able to move the ball to a variety of hitters over the course of each match.
Logan Martin and
Bridgette Kelly both hit a high percentage out of the middle, and
Jailene Lugo has been effective off the right side.
Lexi Couch and
Emma Flores have both posted double-digit kill matches at the other outside hitter spot.
Jiron-Bujanda leads the MAC Commonwealth with 9.9 assists per set and the Eagles hit a league-high .253. She had 50 assists in the match at Stevenson.
Grace Casagrande is first in the league with 5.36 digs per set. She had 34 in Eastern's win at Stevenson. The Eastern defense holds opponents to a .100 hitting percentage. This is the 27th consecutive season of competition that Eastern has played in a Conference Championship match.
The winner of Saturday's match will secure the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Because it is a MAC Championship Event, admission will be charged. Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, and $2 for students (with ID) and children. Children under six are free.
Eastern University Student Development will cover the cost for any Eastern student with Valid E-card to attend.
