HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Eastern University outside hitter Courtney Reinhold pounded out 15 kills on 47 swings to lead the Eagles to a 3-0 win over Haverford College, in Friday's first Regional Semifinal at the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Juniata Regional.
Set scores for Eastern were 25-20, 25-20, and 25-23.
The win allowed Eastern (32-4), seeded third in the Regional, to advance to the Regional Championship match for the second consecutive season. The Eagles will take on the winner of the second Regional Semifinal between Juniata College and Mount Union College, in Saturday night's Regional final at 7:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.
Haverford, the Regional's second seed, finished its 2009 campaign with a 31-4 mark.
The Eagles were aided by seven kills off the arm of sophomore middle Mary Poole, with seven more from freshman opposite Rachel Wenger. Eastern setter Maria Horning set 31 assists while guiding an Eagle offense that hit .183 for the match.
Even that represented a significant improvement in the .079 team hitting percentage posted by Haverford. The Fords gave away 23 points on attack errors with another five on service errors.
It was Eastern's defense that kept them ahead of Haverford; the Eagles turned up 79 digs over the three sets, led by Horning and sophomore libero Nikki Kummerer with 17 apiece. Reinhold had 16 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Kelly Groff had 15.
Haverford amassed 65 digs for the match, paced by senior outside hitter Rebecca Salvo with 16. Junior defensive specialist Franny Glick had 15 digs, before getting sidelined midway through the third set.
The Eagles also outblocked the Fords, 7.0 to 5.0, led by freshman middle Heather Kauffman with four. Haverford freshman middle Olivia Coburn-Flynn also had a hand in four points at the net on blocks.
Eastern hit just .156 in the opening set, but that was considerably better than the -.037 team hitting percentage posted by Haverford. The Fords managed to hold a lead as late as 18-16, but the Eagles answered with six straight points of the serve of sophomore Christi Schlager, including a pair of kills by Poole, to take a 22-18 lead. Four side out points advanced the score to 24-20, and a Haverford attack error allowed Eastern to take the set.
Set two was controlled by Eastern virtually wire-to-wire, with Haverford pulling even with the Eagles seven times in the early stages but never managing to take the lead. A five-point run for Eastern broke the final tie at 13-13, with Reinhold and Wenger posting kills during the run. Eastern finally sealed the set with back-to-back blocks by Horning and Kauffman.
Both teams saved their best hitting performances of the night for the third set, with Eastern hitting at a .213 clip against Haverford's .167 third-set attack percentage.
After leading right from the opening point, the Fords appeared to have the third set well in hand following back-to-back kills by Rebecca Salvo that extended their lead to 18-11.
However a Haverford attack error ended the run, and Eastern rattled off four more points off Reinhold's serve to cut the margin to 18-16. Eastern chipped away at the lead between side out points, eventually knotting the set at 20-20 on a Schlager service ace.
The two teams traded the lead twice and were tied three more times, until a Reinhold kill broke a 23-23 deadlock and put Eastern on match point. Horning and Kauffman blocked an attack by Haverford's Rebecca Salvo, sealing the win for Eastern.
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