St. David's, PA (September 18, 2019) - The DeSales University volleyball fell short in a four-set battle with Eastern University, 3-1, in the MAC Freedom season opener for both teams on Wednesday evening.

This match was tight all night and throughout each set.  In the opening set, Eastern grabbed an 18-13 lead after three straight points before DSU battled back with five straight points to take a 21-20 lead before the Eagles regrouped and took five of the last six points to win the first set, 25-22.

A terrible start to the second set saw the Bulldogs down 10-6 before they scored seven straight points to take a 13-10 lead and never trailed the rest of the set to take a 25-21 second set and tie the match at one.

DeSales took a 4-0 lead in the third set but Eastern rebounded to tie the match.  DSU lead 13-11 midway thru the set when EU scored seven straight points to take an 18-13 lead.  The Bulldogs answered with five straight points themselves to tie the score at 18 but after a few back-and-forth points and the score tied at 20, Eastern won the final five points to win set #3, 25-20.

A five-point Eastern run early in the fourth set gave the hosts a 10-7 lead.  DeSales trailed 17-9 before showing a ton of heart tying the score at 24-all with three straight points on match point.  After trading the next four points and the set tied at 26, EU got the next two points to take the match, 3-1, with a 28-26 fourth set win.

Senior Morghan Shoemaker and freshman Mackenzie Brady each had 11 kills to lead the way and Shoemaker added six blocks.  Freshman Diane Pugay added 10 kills and junior Grace Merritt finished with nine kills.

Senior Cristal Fernandez had 27 digs, sophomore Audrey Wolfe finished with 38 assists and 12 digs, and sophomore Georgia Traynor had 12 digs in the loss.

The Bulldogs are back in action this weekend when they travel to the Susquehanna University Tournament on Friday and Saturday.