Eastern University Women's Volleyball will host the Hood College Blazers at 7;00 pm in the opening round of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on Wednesday Night. With the exception of 2020, when there was not volleyball,Eastern has hosted a conference semifinal every year dating back to 1997.

The Blazers (8-19, 4-3)are coming from the other end of the spectrum. Hood rallied from down two sets and beat Widener 15-13 on the final day of the regular season to earn the fourth spot in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. Ann Ofoegbu had a match-best 26 kills to lead the Blazers to their first appearance in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament since 2015 and just their second overall. 

Ofoegbu is putting away 3.13 kills per set and Cam Madden has 2.38 kills per set Sophomore Maria Ricketts runs the Blazer offense. 

The Eagles (22-7) started their league season with a loss at Widener before finding form and sweeping the rest of the year. After the Widener loss, the Eagles only lost one other set, the opening frame at Stevenson, in the league. They finished tied with the Mustangs at 6-1, but claimed the top seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Hannah Pringle eclipsed the 1500 kill plateau in her final regular-season match. The senior outside hitter leads the Eagles with 432 kills this year. That is the 11th highest single-season total in program history. She is currently fourth on Eastern's career list for kills. Junior outside hitter Alexis Standford ahs also posted a big season. She is hitting .260 for the year and is putting away 3.22 balls per game. Viviana Fragoso leads the Eagles with 462 digs, and Veronica Faber has 96 blocks. Sarah Furey and Kallie Rogers have split the setting duties for the Eagles. 

In the meeting between the two teams in Frederick, Eastern hit .295 to win in three sets. Seven different Eagles recorded at least one service ace in the match. 

The winner of the match will play the winner of the other semifinal which features the second-ranked Stevenson Mustangs and the defending champion Messiah Falcons. 

Should Eastern win, the Championship match would be at 3:00 pm at Eastern. 

Tickets for the semifinal will be available at the gate. Adult tickets are $10 and seniors can get in for $5. Eastern students can access free student tickets at the link provided on the Iron Eagles Instagram account. 

Fans not able to attend will be able to follow the action on Livestats or on MAC TV