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BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Behind three players with 10 or more kills, the Bridgewater Eagles volleyball team defeated a scrappy Guilford Quakers squad by a 3-1 tally on Wednesday evening in Nininger Hall.

The Eagles were victorious in the opening set by a 25-14 tally before the Quakers evened the match up with a 25-18 victory in set two. Bridgewater took a hard-fought set three by a 25-20 score before cruising in the final set by a 25-17 tally to open the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) schedule with a victory.

Out of the gate it was Bridgewater controlling play in the first set. Freshman Abby Mills opened the set with a kill before delivering a service ace to hand the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Bridgewater would run out to a 5-0 advantage before the Quakers used a pair of Eagles errors to get on the board.

Both teams traded points with Bridgewater owning a 12-8 lead midway through the set before the Eagles used a big run to separate themselves from the Quakers. Mills started the run with a kill, as the Eagles capitalized on a number of Guilford miscues and kills from Mills, Katie Long and Megann Grimes to open up a 16-9 advantage.

Guilford pulled to within six points on a pair of occasions before kills from Long and Rachel Donaldson gave the Eagles a sizeable cushion and a 19-11 lead. Bridgewater eventually took the first set by a 25-14 score. The Eagles were impressive on the attack in the opening set, hitting at a .433 percentage to take an early 1-0 lead.

The roles reversed in set two as the Quakers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on the Eagles. Bridgewater scrapped back in the set, as Shannon Skellchock tallied two aces to put the Eagles out in front 6-5 before an attack error evened the set up at six points each. Guilford took the upper hand off of a pair of Malikah French kills and maintained a two-point advantage throughout the majority of the set before the Eagles used a run, capped off by a Maddy Carter kill, to knot the set up at 15 points each.

Guilford responded with three straight points to build an 18-15 edge before eventually pulling away to a 25-18 victory in the second set to even the match up at one set apiece.

Set number three started with the two teams trading points as the score was even at an 9-9 tally in the early goings of the set. Bridgewater used a Long kill and a setting error on the Quakers to gain a slim 11-9 lead, forcing a Quakers timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Eagles picked up where they left off as senior Mara Hogan delivered three straight service aces to give Bridgewater a 14-9 cushion, before a service error brought the Quakers to within four at a 14-10 gap. Bridgewater capitalized on a Quakers attack error before Skellchock tallied a service ace to give the Eagles a 16-10 lead, forcing another Guilford timeout.

Bridgewater maintained its six point lead until late in the set before Grimes closed out the third set with a kill to hand the Eagles a 25-19 victory.

In the fourth and final set, the Eagles stormed out to an early 3-0 lead before an attack error got the Quakers on the board. After the error, back-to-back kills by Donaldson and Grimes put the Eagles out in front by four points before a Guilford attack error gave the Eagles a 6-1 lead and forced Guilford to burn a timeout.

Out of the stoppage, the Quakers chipped the Bridgewater lead to three on a trio of occasions before a pair of Bridgewater attack errors allowed Guilford to get to within one point at a 13-12 tally midway through the set.

After the Bridgewater miscues, the Eagles used a Mills kill to rattle off four straight points and rebuild their advantage to five at a 17-12 tally after Carter closed out the mini-spurt with a kill to extend the lead to five.

Guilford worked the Bridgewater lead back to four at an 18-14 margin, but it was Bridgewater scoring seven of the next nine points before Donaldson closed out the match with a kill to deliver the Eagles a 25-17 victory in the set and a 3-1 win in the match.

Three Bridgewater players were in double figures in kills on the evening, led by a 16-kill effort from Long. Mills added a dozen kills and seven digs in the win, while Grimes chipped in 10 kills and a .389 attack percentage. On the evening, the Eagles hit at a .232 clip.

Senior Lindsay Kallam dished out 33 assists to pace the way for the Bridgewater offense, while adding 12 digs to post the double-double. Hogan led the way for the Eagles defense with 13 digs on the evening.

Brittany Freeman put down 13 kills to lead the Guilford offense, while Maile Munro aided the Quakers with 20 assists.

Freeman just missed the double-double after posting a team-high nine digs.

Bridgewater owned a major edge on the serve as the Eagles owned 11 service aces on the evening, led by four from Skellchock.

The Eagles are back in action on Friday when they travel to Roanoke for an ODAC matchup. Start time against the Maroons is set for 7 p.m.