TACOMA, Wash. - After a pair of convincing victories on Friday, Eastern Women's Volleyball fell in two five-set matches on Saturday to Saint Benedict and host University of Puget Sound to close out the Puget Sound Premiere. The Eagles held a 2-1 lead against the Bennies and rallied to tie the Loggers at 2-2, but were unable to close out either match.
The Eagles dropped the first set against Saint Benedict, 25-16, but rallied to win the next two sets, 28-26 and 25-15. In set two, the Eagles faced an early 6-1 deficit, before cutting the lead to 12-10 on kills from
Jailene Lugo and
Logan Martin. The Bennies pushed their lead back to four points, but a 7-2 run by the Eagles gave them their first lead of the set at 21-20. The two sides continued to battle, eventually playing to a 25-25 tie, but three straight kills from Lugo,
Hannah Pringle, and first-year outside hitter
Emma Flores gave the Eagles the second set triumph.
Eastern dominated the third set as they built a 12-5 lead and cruised to a 25-15 triumph. The Eagles ended the set with six straight points, which included terminations from Lugo, Flores, and Martin. However, the Bennies rallied from a 19-14 deficit in the fourth set to tie the contest, before dominating the fifth set, 15-4, to hand the Eagles their first loss of the young season.
Coming off a strong Friday, Lugo continued to swing well with a team high 12 kills and a .364 hitting percentage. Martin finished with 11 kills, Pringle nine, and Flores eight.
Elle Jiron-Bujanda orchestrated the offense with 39 assists, while
Grace Casagrande dominated defensively with 23 digs.
In their final match, the Eagles went toe-to-toe with the Loggers of Puget Sound, but came up three points short. Pringle led the Eastern offense with a resounding 16 kills, while Martin capped off a strong weekend of volleyball with 11 more terminations.
Bridgette Kelly added eight kills and seven total blocks from the middle blocker spot. Jiron-Bujanda and first-year setter
Kyra Kisting combined for 36 assists, and Casagrande had another tremendous defensive outing with 30 digs. First-year defensive specialist
Grace Cooper added 18 digs, while sophomore
Viviana Fragoso collected 16.
The Eagles got off to a roaring start with six straight points to begin the contest, which included kills from Pringle, Jiron-Bujanda, and Martin. That momentum carried throughout the remainder of the set as the Eagles never trailed en route to a 25-18 win.
Eastern held leads of 5-0 and 12-4 in the second set, but this time, the Loggers had an answer. Trailing 20-17, Puget Sound ended the set on a 8-3 run to tie the contest at 1-1. In set three, the Eagles and Loggers traded points back and fourth to a 25-25 tie, but the Loggers recorded back-to-back kills to close it out.
The Eagles put together an efficient attack in set four with a .320 hitting percentage and just three errors on their way to a 25-14 win. However, in the final set, a hard-fought effort went the way of the hosts as the Loggers scored 10 of the final 16 points to secure the victory.
The Eagles (2-2) return to Pennsylvania for the Buttermaker Tournament on Sept. 8 and 9 at Muhlenberg. Eastern will play Ursinus at 3 pm and LVC at 7 pm on Friday, before taking on Bluffton at noon and Muhlenberg at 2 on Saturday.
