ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– On a night dedicated to supporting the Headstrong Foundation's Hope Venture, Eastern University Women's Volleyball took care of a couple other important things with a three-set win over the visiting Alvernia University Golden Wolves. The Eagles secured a home match in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Tournament, and senior libero Grace Casagrande reached 2,000 digs for her career.

Casagrande, who has made all types of spectacular excavations in her career, hit the milestone with a relatively routine dig in the beginning of the second  set. She joins Rylie Haas Norris '17 as the only two players to hit the milestone. Kelly Groff '13, who played libero for the 2011 Hall of Honor team that reached the Final Four finished her career with 1999. Casagrande finished the night with a match-high16 digs

As Casagrande's milestone seemed to be a question of when, not if, the Eagles locking up a Wednesday home game had also become close to becoming a formality. Eastern has played in League Championship matches every year since 1995, and in those seasons, the Eagles have never played a semifinal on the road. The result, coupled with Messiah's four-set win over York sets up a very meaningful Nov. 5th match between Eastern and Messiah in St. Davids. Both teams have a league match between then and now, but regardless of those results, the winner of the Messiah vs. Eastern match will claim home court and the top seed for the tournament. 

In the match, the Eagles hit .346 with 44 kills.

With Logan Martin putting down four kills and five swings and Hannah Pringle burying three out of six swings, Eastern cruised to a 25-12 win in the opening set. Eastern hit .542 as a team and were successful on 10-of-12 sideout chances in the frame.

The Golden Wolves (9-12, 0-5) stayed within striking distance with a scrappy performance in the second set. The visitors led 21-20 before Martin returned to the line-up with a big kill and a service point. Pringle put away a kill to end the set at 25-23. The Golden Wolves hit .243 in the set and became the first league team to hit 20 points in a set against the Eagles this season.

Eastern hit .250 in the second set and Elle Jiron-Bujanda dished out 14 assists, but the Eagles gave their visitors a boost with five hitting errors and four service errors.

Jiron Bujanda put together a big run of serves early in the third to help her side open up a 10-2 lead. The Eagles eliminated the wayward shots that troubled them int he second set and put away 15 kills with just a single hitting error and did not have a receiving error. Jiron-Bujanda played early before giving way to Kallie Rogers for the finish. With the visitors working hard to extend rallies and the Eagles putting balls in play, Casagrande had nine digs in helping the Eagles to another 25-12 win.

Pringle finished with a match-high 13 kills and Natalie Saxton had eight kills, two blocks and two aces after coming on for Martin for most of the final two sets. Martin finished with six kills on 11 swings.

Before the match, Head Coach Mark Birtwistle shared information about Hope Venture, and how it helps women in their fight against breast cancer. Rowan University Volleyball Head Coach Deana Jesperson, a Breast cancer survivor,  joined with the Headstrong Foundation with the idea of creating a fund to meet women where they have the most need in their fight against Breast Cancer.  At the event it was announced that Eastern Volleyball alum Courtney Reinhold would be a beneficiary of a Hope Venture grant. Reinhold and many of her teammates from the 2011 Final Four team were present for the announcement.

"Obviously, we are really proud of Casa for reaching such a huge milestone." Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said after the game. " It was also a great night to recognize The Hope Venture's support of Courtney.  Eastern Volleyball was proud to be a part of Coach Deana's new foundation of supporting women in their breast cancer journey. Deana knows Courtney very well, and I am sure she was excited to support Courtney with one of her fund's first-ever financial grant.s "

Those interested in supporting the work of Hope Venture can click the link to learn more or to donate.

The Eagles will have a quick turnaround before hosting Swarthmore College at the Nest on Friday night.