GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Bridgewater College women's volleyball fell short in the season opener at the Gettysburg Battlefield Classic as the Eagles dropped both matches Friday to Messiah in five sets and Otterbein in three sets. 

The Eagles begin 2025 with two early setback defeats in the quad match tournament hosted by Gettysburg. 

The Basics 

Score:  

Match 1: Messiah (MES) 3, Bridgewater (BCE) 2 

Match 2: Otterbein (OTT) 3, Bridgewater (BCE) 0 

Records: BCE (0-2); Messiah (1-0), Otterbein (1-0) 

How It Happened 

Vs. Messiah 

• Much of the aggressive play to start the match signaled to both teams that this match would be a fight to the end. Both sides traded offensive scoring runs and neither team could muster enough momentum to break away to avoid a five setter. In the first set, MES attempted to break away first with multiple counter attacks. The Falcons drew up a four-point run halfway in the opening set and never looked back from there. Later in the set, the Eagles forced a close set by capitalizing on attack errors, but it would not be enough to put the Falcons away as MES closed out the first set, 25-19. 

• The Eagles came back firing in the second set, quickly running the score up at 3-0. However, the Falcons did not let up and managed to weather each scoring run BCE put down. BCE sneaked by to take the final four consecutive points led by a pair of kills from Faith DePew and the Eagles claimed the second set, 25-21.  

• In the third set, BCE powered through with dominant scoring runs to take hold of the entire set. A four-point streak was ignited with a kill from Reagan Stoop halfway in the set. Maya Veselinovic followed that up with a kill. At 16-11, the Eagles took command the rest of the way in the third closing out the set at 25-17. 

• The Falcons did not go away, quickly becoming a serious threat in the fourth set. A powerful four-point scoring run was quickly followed by another scoring burst to put them up by six at 16-10. The six-point advantage was enough to diminish any scoring run from Bridgewater's side which would send the match to a fifth set. 

• The fifth set got underway and immediately became a back-and-forth battle. The Falcons would eventually pull away with a strong six-point scoring run which was enough to take the first win of the season. 

Vs. Otterbein 

• Although there was early back-and-forth action to start out the match, the Otterbein Cardinals narrowly outdid the Eagles in offensive efficiency by managing scoring runs effectively. OTT took advantage of early scoring runs and never looked back. The Cardinals ignited a six-point consecutive point streak to take the first set, 25-19. 

• Early aggressive play from OTT set the stage for the second set despite multiple efforts from Bridgewater in minimizing the deficit. Reagan Stoop, Faith DePew, and Claire Griffith tripled up with a kill each and the Eagles quickly cut the score to a three-point margin. However, OTT squeezed by to take the second set, 25-22. 

• The Cardinals hit the gas once more and earned themselves another early scoring advantage to put them in comfortable position to hold the momentum down the rest of the way. The Eagles forced multiple four-point streaks to keep the set close, but OTT did enough to safely harness the victory.   

Match Notes 

Vs. Messiah 

• Hitting percentages dipped in the five-set fight as the Eagles recorded a .172 hitting percentage while the Falcons lifted their percentage slightly higher with a .227 percentage. 

• Junior Reagan Stoop led all Bridgewater offensive attackers with 13 kills while also adding nine digs and two block assists on the defensive end. 

• Graduate transfer, Anna Black, piled on a team-high 22 digs to start out the first season with the Eagles. 

• First year Maya Veselinovic showed some glimpses of shining offensive moments along with recording 34 of 48 total assists.  

Vs. Otterbein 

• Hitting percentages again dropped in the second match of the young fall season. The Eagles recorded a .096 percentage while the Cardinals maintained a .158 percentage.  

• Offensive stats for Bridgewater were distributed more equally in this matchup against Otterbein as the Bridgewater kills leaders of Reagan Stoop, Claire Griffith, and Faith DePew totaled 23 kills combined. 

• Sophomore Agnes Alford displayed a dominant performance defensively, despite the setback, rejecting six blocks; four assisted and two solo. 

Up Next 

The Eagles are back in action tomorrow, Aug. 30 at the Gettysburg Battlefield Classic with two matches on deck beginning with Dickinson at 1:30 p.m. and finishing with Neumann at 4 p.m.