FREDERICK, Md.— In a MAC Commonwealth Volleyball season loaded with upsets and unusual results. Eastern University Women's Volleyball capped its season-opening 15-match road swing with an efficient three-set win at Hood. Jessie Schrieber had seven kills and five blocks and
Alexis Standford had nine kills and 11 digs in the win.
The Eagles (8-7, 2-0) set the tone with a 25-12 win in the first set. Hood led 7-5 and then the Eastern serving took over. Four-straight servers put together runs as the Eagles rattled off 18 of the next 22 points to reach set points. After the Blazers (2-14, 2-2) scored a point on serve,
Piper Xeller put away her fourth kill of the frame to end the set.
Veronica Faber had three of Eastern's five aces, and
Sarah Furey had seven assists and four digs to go with an ace. Eastern had just a single service error in the set and finished with 13 aces and five errors in the match.
Xeller served the Eagles to an early 6-0 lead in the second set and, except for a four-point run from the Blazers in the middle of the set, controlled the action. Faber closed out the second set with another ace for a 25-16 win.
The match, Eastern's 15th road test of the year, was made more difficult because the Eagles were without several key players in the same position. With three defensive specialists out for the match, Standford and Xeller played more rotations and Standford wound up serving. The Eagles hope to be more healthy when they play their home opener against Widener on Friday.
Though the Eagles led from wire-to-wire in the final set, the Blazers found more confidence receiving serve and kept the Eagles from building huge runs. Eastern led 24-20 and held off a late charge to win 25-23.
Lane McLaughlin continued to influence play at the net. Eastern's first-year middle had seven blocks and added four kills. The Eagles had 11 blocks as a team. Furey finished with 17 assists and
Alyssa Heffner had 16.
Grace Cooper had 11 digs for her 15th double-digit dig effort in as many matches. McLaughlin came into the night leading the nation in blocks per set with 1.47.
"We did the things we needed to do," Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said after the match. "We served well to keep them out of system, and our hitting gave them trouble. Lane and Jessie continue to be a strong blocking presence at the net."
With Messiah's loss tonight at Stevenson and Stevenson's five-set loss at York, the Eagles are the only squad in the MAC Commonwealth without a loss in league play.
The Eagles will host Blue Route-rival Widener on Friday. It will be the squad's first home match of the year. First serve is scheduled for 7 pm.
