WASHINGTON, D.C.— Eastern University Women's Volleyball swept a pair of matches on the final day of the Worthington Classic hosted by Gallaudet University. Eastern (5-6) hit .221 with 38 kills and eight aces to beat Arcadia in the morning, and hit .236 with 42 kills and nine aces to beat the hosts to cap the tournament.
Piper Xeller continued her strong play with 26 kills over the two matches.
Grace Cooper had 12 digs in each match.
Against Arcadia (10-3), the Eagles pulled away late in the opening set to claim a 25-20 win. Arcadia led 18-17 before
Alexis Standford earned a sideout and
Sarah Furey served a pair of aces in a three-point run.
Emma Ciesielka served another two points to put the Eagles up 24-19.
C'Hannah Lawson and
Lane McLaughlin combined on a block to get the Eagles to set point. Xeller put away her eighth kill of the match to close out the set.
Standford had four kills in a wire-to-wire 25-18 win in the second set.
The third set turned out to be Eastern's closest of the day. Arcadia led 22-19. After an Arcadia error and a kill from
Josie Arezina, the Eagles still trailed 23-21. Standford earned a sideout and Xeller tied the game with Ciesielka serving. After an Arcadia timeout, Lawson and McLaughlin again combined on a block to give the Eagles a match point. An Arcadia hitting error ended the match.
Xeller had 14 kills and Standford hit .429 with seven kills.
Gallaudet (7-5) pushed the Eagles in the opening set. Eastern trailed 16-12 before a run with Xeller serving tied the game at 16. Standford had a pair of kills in the run. The Eagles took the lead 19-18 on an Arezina kill. After the teams traded sideouts, an ace from Cooper put Eastern up two.
Alyssa Heffner delivered an ace to end the set.
With Heffner and Furey distributing, the Eagles hit .324 on the way to a 25-19 win in the second set. Xeller and Standford each put away four balls on eight swings, Arezina had three kill on seven swings, and Furey, who hit opposite when in the front row, put down three balls on six attempts.
Xeller had five kills in the third set for a 25-18 win.
"It was nice to put together three good matches this weekend," Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said after the match. "Both teams today had strong hitters we needed to figure out. Our team is staying united. "
The Eagles have been practicing off-campus while floor repairs were bing done at the nest. With those repairs still in-process, this weeks schedule is still to be determined.
