Honolulu, Hawai'i- On the first day of the Magic Island Hawai'i Classic, Embry-Riddle played the first game of the day and finished up with the last match.  Playing in the Shark Tank at Hawaii Pacific University, the Eagles won their first game of the day, a 3-0 sweep of Bryan College from Tennessee before dropping a 5 set match to Jessup University from California.

Match 1- ERAU took the first match of the day as they won three consecutive sets to earn the sweep with scores of 25-22, 28-26, and 25-17. 

In the first set Embry-Riddle found themselves down 7-2 early but the Eagles battled back to take an 11-10 lead after a kill by Kelly Hansen (El Dorado Hills, Calif.).  After ERAU went up 13-10, Bryan College went on a 7-1 run to take a late 17-14 lead, however the Eagles had timely hitting by Alexandra Rodriguez (Phoenix, Ariz.) as she had three kills in a row to put Embry-Riddle up 22-21.  ERAU was able to close out set one 25-22.

The scores were much closer with neither team pulling too far ahead in the second set.  The Lions and Eagles traded points back and forth with the Eagles having the largest lead at four points.  With the set tied at 24, an error by ERAU gave Bryan the one point advantage, but a kill by Hansen tied up the score again.  Embry-Riddle again had timely hitting as Hannah Clear (Fort Worth, Texas) and Dalia Haase (Tucson, Ariz.) ended the match a kill each and the final score 28-26. 

Like the second set, the third and final of the match started off with the teams trading points back and forth until ERAU went on a 5-2 run to take a 14-10 lead.  The Lions never came within three points again as the Eagles closed out the match 25-17. 

For Embry-Riddle, Emma Barber (Goodyear, Ariz.) had 10 kills as she hit at .348.  Katie Rolle (Missoula, Mont.) finished the match with 33 assists and one solo block. Haase had 6 block assists.

Match 2- The second match for the Eagles went to five sets as they lost 3-2 to the Warriors of Jessup with the final scores being 21-25, 25-16, 25-23, 26-28, and 17-19. 

Much like the first match of the day, the Eagles went down early in the first set.  ERAU was down 19-12 as they worked their way back in but ultimately fell 25-21.   

In the second set the Eagles went on a 5-1 run to take a 9-4 lead and the closest Jessup would come again was two points at 8-10.  The Embry-Riddle run was sparked by two kills from Clear and a service ace by Alexis Creager (Berthoud, Colo.).  Haase ended the game with two straight kills as the Eagles won 25-16 and tied the match at one set a piece. 

The scores went back and forth again to start the third set with ERAU taking the largest lead at 12-10 before the Warriors came back and took a 20-17 lead late.  Embry-Riddle then used two kills by Rolle and a couple of Jessup attacking errors to go up 24-21 before a kill by Barber ended the set with the Eagles winning 25-23. 

In the fourth set, Jessup went up early 11-6 however after the teams traded points ERAU was able to battle back and after a few small runs tied up the set at 17.  Embry-Riddle used their momentum take the lead, but were unable to find the match point as the game went to a fifth set.

During the last set of the night, like the match the teams traded points back and forth with the Warriors taking a 14-10 lead.  On match point however, the Eagles got a kill from Rodriguez and a block by Hansen and Clear to make the score 14-14.  Ultimately, Jessup was able to get a few timely points and pull away from ERAU winning the set 19-17 and taking the match 3-2.

Embry-Riddle will play their final match in Hawai'i today as they take on Eastern Oregon University at 6:30pm MST.