SAINT ELIZABETH GETS WORN DOWN BY LIONS

The Eagles entered the 2^nd match of the NEAC weekend still looking for their first win.  In their way, last year’s #1 team in the conference, the Lions of Penn State.  The Eagles stood toe-to-toe with the Lions most of the match.  CSE tied the score early 4-4 through a Subhana Wrights kill and took a 1 point lead after a Kareemah Muhammad kill.  A Katie Cooper kill put the Eagles up 11-10 but the Lions jumped out to a 15-12 lead thanks to a couple of CSE hitting errors. 

After a couple of Lions’ miscues forced by good Eagle hitting, CSE climbed back into the match tying it at 15.  However, the Lions finished off the set on a 10-1 run as the Eagles poor passing made its offense very predictable and PS Berks was able to get kills in transition to close out the set.

The second set began much like the first set with both teams unable to get any sort of advantage as CSE saw themselves in a 6-6 game.  The Lions then ran off 6 straight points as the Eagle offense could not keep the ball in play.  Two hitting errors by the Lions’ squad gave Saint Elizabeth life at 12-8 but CSE could not sustain momentum and PS Berks went on a 8-2 run that was finally stopped by a Lion hitting error.  A couple of Kareemah Muhammad kills late made it 23-14 but the lead was too great and the Lions closed out the set 25-14.

Typical of the 2012 campaign, the Eagles did not wilt under a 2 set deficit and provided the fans with the best set of the afternoon in the 3^rd.  Once again the teams were tied early at 4 and later on at 9 as each team was struggling to stop each other’s offense.  At 12-12, the Lions went on a 5-0 run fueled by a couple of kills and blocks out of the middle to extend the lead to 17-12.  Although the Eagles stopped the run briefly thanks to a Katie Cooper swing, the Lions got another 2 kills to push the lead to 20-14.  An ace by Jenae Goodson brought the team within 3 at 20-17 but a costly serve error gave the ball and momentum back to the Lions who closed out the set on a 5-2 run  (25-20)

Katie Cooper led the Eagles in defeat with 11 kills and was a perfect 13/13 in serve receptions.  Amy Cooper dished out 19 assists and joined teammate Rachel Hausler for a combined 30 digs. Jenae Goodson hit for 2 aces in the loss. Eagles drop to 12W-6L.