ASTON, Pa. —
Alexis Standford finished with 15 kills and Eastern University Women's Volleyball hit .320 as a team to to pull away to a close three-set road win over the Neumann University Knights. Neumann had set poionts in each of the final two sets. With the sweep, the Eagles (10-7, 4-0) remain unbeaten in the MAC Commonwealth race.
After running out to a 25-18 win in the opening set, the Eagles had to fight off a set-point in the second set to keep their sweep-streak alive in the league.
The Eagles led the entire set, but the Knights rallied and closed the gap to a single point and forced an Eastern timeout at 21-20. A Standford kill put the Eagles up two and
Lane McLaughlin put a ball away with
Veronica Faber serving to force a Neumann timeout. Standford put away another ball out of the timeout for a 24-20 edge.
The Knights (7-11, 2-3) fought back with a sideout, two kills, and a pair of aces to grab their own set point. Standford then delivered two kills for sideouts on either side of a Neumann point to fend off a pair of set points. McLaughlin and
Jessie Schreiber combined on a block to give the Eagles another chance to close out the second.
Emma Ciesielka served for another point and the Eagles took a 2-0 lead with the 28-26 win.
Standford had seven kills on 15 swings in the second set.
Piper Xeller had four kills on seven attacks.
The two sides each put together big runs in the third, and the hosts had the advantage late with a 20-16 lead. After the teams traded sideouts, Faber and Xeller each served for points to tie the score. Neumann took a timeout, and the Knights earned a chance to extend the match with a good attack off the Eastern block.
As she did in the second, Standford delivered in a key moment with a kill. With
Grace Cooper serving, Faber and Schreiber closed up the block to give the Eagles a match point. An aggressive serve from Cooper put the Knights on their heels and the Eagles secured the win.
Saray Furey and
Alyssa Heffner each finished with 18 assists, and Cooper and Xeller each had 10 digs. For Cooper, it is her 17th match this year with double-digit digs.
The Eagles will host the University of Scranton Royals for a 6 pm match on Friday evening before returning to MAC Commonwealth play for a critical home test against the Messiah University Falcons on the 21st.
Tonight's match was the first conference match-up between the two programs since 2007.
