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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – After returning from the Dominican Republic less than 48 hours ago, the Cornerstone volleyball team made the short road trip down the East Betline to open league play at Aquinas and the Golden Eagles came away with a 3-1 win. CU won the first two sets 25-21, 25-19 before falling in the third and then closing out the host Saints 25-15. CU will take on IU-South Bend on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Aquinas College.

How it Happened…
The Golden Eagles had been off from matches since leaving a tournament in Miami last Friday but they showed no signs of rust as they picked up a conference-opening win over their rivals Aquinas College. CU fell behind early in each of the first two sets but rebounded to take control in the mid-teens to post the four and six point wins.

Cornerstone then took charge in the third set and held a 5-point lead but Aquinas quickly erased that and went on to win 25-22 to force a fourth in which CU ran away from the Saints 25-15 to post the 3-1 win.

Say What?...

"Tonight we wanted to come out strong and we really came together as a team. I am really proud of the girls for giving it their all. Aquinas is a great team and they worked hard and it was an awesome awesome way to start our conference season. We are excited to get back into league play on Wednesday against Madonna after playing IUSB tomorrow.

Looking at Stats…
- Three players reached double-figure kills for CU – Megan Newhouse (SR/Grand Haven, Mich.) (12), Chelsea Lake (SR/Lake Odessa, Mich.) (11) and Ellie Van Laar (SO/Hudsonville, Mich.) (10)
- Chelsea Lake and Amber Carmean (SR/Fruitport, Mich.) each posted 24 digs while Megan Newhouse had 20
- CU hit .151 as a team (.382 in their fourth set win)
- Cornerstone finished with 12.0 team blocks (24 assists, 0 solo)

Up Next?
Cornerstone will play again at Aquinas College on Saturday but they will face off against IU-South Bend at 11 a.m.