The Eagles went into NY fully confident that they could overcome the Cardinals of York College. The match could not have gone more differently than expected. The Cardinals proved to be a tough opponent thanks to their opportune hitting and amazing blocking performance.
The Eagles started off slowly, falling behind 3-0 thanks to 3 consecutive hitting errors. Although the team finally got on track, the Cardinals maintained their 3 point lead nearing the midway point of the match (10-7). The Eagles responded with a 3-0 run due mainly to Cardinal errors but the team seemed to be struggling to find any rhythm offensively.
The set became a back and forth affair at this point with both teams unable to pull away (19-19). The Cardinals seemed to have found their rhythm late and took a 21-19 lead thanks to some good offensive pressure. Typical of the Eagles though, they did not give up and somehow found themselves tied at 23. York responded with a kill to take a 24-23 lead. However, the Cardinals missed the next serve and gave the Eagles a second life. The Eagles forced an attack error to take the lead 25-24 but a kill by the Cardinals evened the score at 25. The Eagles broke serve on the next reception with a kill and finished it off with an ace by Libero Rachel Hausler to take the first set 27-25.
The second set did not feature a different CSE squad. The Eagles looked even more complacent after winning the first set and fell behind quickly 5-0. The Cardinals maintained that lead and actually expanded it to 21-11, looking like a team that was poised to overrun the Eagles. The Eagles, however, woke up from their malaise and proceeded to go on 7-0 run behind the serving of Katie Cooper (5 aces in the run) that brought the Eagles to within 3 at 21-18. The Cardinals extended their lead yet again to 23-19
but the Eagles went on another run (3-0) that pulled the team to within 1 at 23-22 but a key service error and an attack error by the Eagles helped the Cardinals close out the set 25-22.
The Eagles took the momentum they gained in the second set (11-4 run) and kept it going in the third. CSE held a 13-8 lead about halfway through the set and never looked back. The Cardinals came as close as 13-17 but the Eagles closed out the set on an 8-0 run behind the serving of Luisa Solano who finished the Cardinals off with 3 service aces in a row (25-13).
The final set was a close contest with the Cardinals getting an early lead and holding it for the majority of the set (6-3, 9-6, 12-9, 15-10, 19-15). The Eagles were thwarted time after time by the Cardinal block and seemed to be out of rhythm offensively yet again but then Kareemah Muhammad rotated to the front row and the Eagles took over. CSE went on a 7-0 run that gave the team the lead and control of the set at 22-19 thanks to numerous attacking errors by the Cardinals which were caused by the serving of Chanice Sears and the blocking of Subhana Wrights. The Cardinals fought back to within1 at 21-22 but another key service error gave the Eagles the breathing room they needed and Kareemah Muhammad finished off the match with a kill off the ever present block (25-22).
Katie Cooper had 7 kills while outside hitter Kareemah Muhammad tallied 15 kills to anchor the Eagle offense. Subhana Wrights and Chanice Sears were pivotal out of the middle, hitting for 16 kills combined (11 and 5 respectively).
K. Cooper, Jenae Goodson and Luisa Solano combined for 16 of the team's aces with Cooper hitting for 6 and Jenae for 5.
The Eagles improve to 14W-16L and have two matches this Saturday that CSE must win to have the minimum qualification for the ECAC Tournament and to finish the regular season at .500 for the first time in school history.
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