The end of an era

This was supposed to be the year where Eastern women’s volleyball made the leap from an early NCAA exit to a force to be reckoned with in Division III. Stevenson fell off and they brought everyone from last year back to make one last deep push. 

Those hopes came to an end before the big dance even commenced.

The Eagles lost the conference championship on the road to Messiah on Nov. 16. It was the first time they hadn’t won the conference since 2019, and their first time not winning the Commonwealth since joining four years ago. It was topped off with them finding out they did not earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking it only the second time they didn’t since 2007. 

On one hand, the Eagles had a resume that had some merit. They won three games against Tournament teams, including a now-ranked Wisconsin Eau-Claire, and played competitively in five others. They had five players be named to the All-MAC Commonwealth First Team compared to Messiah’s one. On top of that, the Commonwealth has had two teams earn NCAA tickets for the past three seasons, as Stevenson earned large bids each time.

Then comes the other issue: the Eagles still lost some critical games. They lost to an unranked Haverford squad back in September. While Trinity was a top 15 team in the country, the Eagles were up 2-1 with leads in both the fourth and fifth sets before losing. They lost to Cortland for the first time in school history, and both Messiah games featured sets that went beyond 25 points and didn’t go our way. While not an official rule, the theoretical threshold for at-large bids is 20+ wins and less than eight losses. Even with the conference title loss, if any of those aforementioned games went differently, we might be looking at an at-large bid.

The short question to ask is, ‘What went wrong?’ While a bunch of things happened this season there are two key factors The first thing many would point out is injuries. The Eagles lost their now three-time All-MAC Commonwealth First Team middle hitter Logan Martin to a leg injury in the first set against NYU, and she ended up missing the next three games. Martin led the Eagles in hitting percentage this season and was having the best season of her career before the injury. She would wind up missing the next three games because of it, including the pivotal regular season loss to Messiah. She returned for the conference championship game, but the injury kept her neutralized for the entire match and she only played in parts of three sets. They also lost sophomore outside hitter Emma Flores just three games into the season. In her small sample size, she collected 20 kills and hit .278. One can only speculate what else she could’ve done had she stayed healthy.

The second: Messiah. For as long as Eastern has been in the Commonwealth, Messiah has been in the middle of the pack, never truly being able to surpass Eastern and Stevenson in a very good conference. They have improved significantly over the past two seasons thanks to strong recruiting classes in each of the past two seasons. They have both of the previous two MAC Commonwealth Rookie of the Year winners in outside hitters Sara Hart and McKenzie Adams – both of whom came close to 300 kills this season and had double-digit kill performances in both games against Eastern. At the center of their talented core is senior Libero Caitlin Lielbredis. The championship MVP moved from outside hitter midway through last year and has excelled, earning Second Team All-MAC Commonwealth honors this season while finishing four digs shy of 600. 

These things each played a role in the program’s setback this fall, and it marks the end of eight players’ collegiate careers. With only four of our nine starters eligible to return next year, Eastern Women’s volleyball will look very different come 2025.