OWINGS MILLS, Md.— After dropping the first set, Eastern University Women's Volleyball (18-5, 5-1) won the final three sets to claim an important league win on the road over the Stevenson University Mustangs (14-11, 5-1). Hannah Pringle and Alexis Standford each put away 21 kills, and Viviana Fragoso led a great defensive effort with 20 digs.

With the win and Messiah's five-set win over Widener, the Eagles put themselves in a position where they can secure the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth tournament with a win over York  next Wednesday.

After the two teams split the first two sets, the Eagles ground out a tough 26-24 win in the critical third set. With the frame tied at 14, the Eagles found a four-point run with Emma Ciesielka at the service line. Veronica Faber had a kill on the first point and Standford put away kills on either side of a Ciesielka ace.

The lead grew to 23-18, but the host Mustangs rallied to tie the match at 24-24. Pringle put away a kill for an important sideout. With the Eagles out of substitutions, Pringle went back to serve. The senior standout finished the set with a kill from the back row for a 26-24 win.

The Eagles hit .273 as a team with 18 kills in the third set. Pringle had six kills and Standford had five.

Up 2-1, the Eagles trailed 11-7 in the fourth. Sarah Furey, Grace Cooper, Kallie Rogers, Ciesielka, and Veronica Faber all served for points to put the Eagles up 22-17. The Mustangs put together a run to close the gap to 23-20, but Cooper served for another point and Jessie Schreiber put down her only kill of the set to end the match. Fragoso had six digs in the fourth.

Though Pringle had eight kills on 13 swings, in the fist and the Eagles hit .308, the Mustangs made only three hitting errors and used a block and three aces to win 25-23.

The Eagles held Stevenson to only eight kills and hit .303 to win 25-19 in the second set. Furey had seven assists in the set. Furey finished the match with 24 assists and 15 digs. The first-year setter also hit on the right side in some rotations to save subs and had a block and a kill.

Cooper finished with 11 digs and Ciesielka had eight digs and four aces. Faber put away nine balls and hit .500 for the match and Maddie Golia finished with a team-high five blocks. Rogers had 29 assists. The Eagles hit .245 as a team.

"It was a very good match in a loud away gym for us." Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said after the match. "Our serving was good and and receive was solid which allowed our offense to take quality swings. Hannah and Lexi both hit very efficiently.
Our defensive core of Coop, Emma and Viv all had an excellent match digging and passing and Sarah and Kallie both delivered the ball well."

Eastern travels to Stevens Institute of Technology for a pair of matches this weekend and will host York in a final league match Wednesday. The Eagles will celebrate Senior Day  for Pringle and Fragoso that night.