Championship Central Page

ST. DAVIDS, Pa. (Volleyball) – The top-seeded Eastern Eagles swept the second-seed DeSales Bulldogs 3-0 on Saturday to claim their seventh-straight Freedom Conference Volleyball Championship. The Eagles have won every tournament title since joining the conference in 2008.

Eastern (29-5) and DeSales (23-11) played a closely contested first set. The Eagles largest lead in the set came at 14-9, but the Bulldogs came back to take a 19-17 lead. Eastern knotted it at 19-19 before the teams began to trade points. The Eagles pulled away at the end for a 25-21 first-set win.

In the second set, it was all Eastern. The Eagles rolled to a 25-3 second-set win.

Eastern jumped out to a 6-2 third-set lead before DeSales rallied back to come within 7-6. The Bulldogs fought late in the third set pulling within two points, down 19-17. But the Eagles were too much and hung on for a 25-19 third-set win and a 3-0 match victory.

The Eagles’ Freedom Player of the Year Rikki Schlager finished the match with 31 assists and a .700 hitting percentage with seven kills and no errors. Lauren Sproles recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. Katrina Pisch also added 10 kills. Riley Haas recorded a game-high 21 digs.

The Bulldog’s Lisa Wallitsch recorded a double-double with 10 assists and 13 digs. Amanda Wallitsch recorded 14 digs.

Haas was named the Freedom Conference Championship Most Valuable Player.

Eastern earns the Commonwealth Conference’s automatic qualifier (AQ) to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The field will be announced on Monday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. at www.NCAA.com.