CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Kelsey Eby (Portland, OR) had a way of making her serves count as she led the University of Charleston volleyball team past a determined group from Davis & Elkins 3-1, Monday night in Eddie King Gym.

Eby led Charleston (12-16, 6-5) with four aces on the night, but none felt better than the one that sent the Senators into the night on the final touch of the game to seal the victory. She not only led the team with aces, but her service turns seemed to spark the home offense like nothing else could, which caused her to record 22 serves on the evening as they were wildly successful.

Davis & Elkins (11-22, 4-7) brought a potent attack into the contest jumping out to an early 8-3 advantage before UC head coach Bren Stevens had to use the first timeout of the night to regroup her troops. The Golden Eagles came out of the break on an Eby's first service attempt of the game. In what would be a precursor for how the night would go for her Eby and company strung together four-straight points to pull within 8-7. Charleston fall behind for a second time in the set 18-13 before another Stevens timeout got the Golden Eagles motivated to make another charge.

Coming out of the second timeout Lora Goss (Birmingham, AL) immediately delivered a slam in the middle of the court to regain possession for Charleston and fittingly so hand the ball to Eby for her second serve session. Her time delivering the ball in play led the UC offense to pull within 18-17 as Brittney Bills (Findlay, OH ), Malleri Hardison (Uniontown, PA ) and Goss strung together four kills all off assists from Eby.

In a change of pace, Charleston went to its two setter attack late in the game with Katie Williams (Gettysburg, PA ) putting together a late run of her own on the service line. Williams most lethal strike came as a perfectly placed ace along the back line that knotted the game at 24-24 deflating a shocked Davis & Elkins team. From the deadlock the teams traded points until a Senator attack error left an opening for the Golden Eagles to take control of the set. Coming off a great set, Hardison delivered a sounding blow to end an intense first set handing the home team the initial 1-0 lead.

Goss combined with the night's leading hitter Cara Hibbs-Leyva (San Diego, CA ) to take over the early part of set two running away from D&E quickly 10-5. Brenna Youlton would get in the mix through the middle of set two as Charleston made it no doubt they were not going to let the Senators hang around as the home team took an 18-9 advantage. UC hit .297 in set two as they kept the visitors out of striking distance to record a 25-17 victory.

The tides turned on the University of Charleston in set three as they struggled to find any offensive form, while Davis & Elkins turned in their best performance of the night to easily slip away to a 25-16 win to pull the match within a game at 2-1.

Responding to coach Stevens advice in the pre-set huddle Charleston left no doubt in the fourth game as they came to the court with a renewed fire putting together an impressive offensive onslaught. UC jumped straight to a 7-1 lead on two blocks by Hardison and one by Goss. Forcing eight errors in the set, while committing just two of the own allowed the Golden Eagles to cruise in the set as Eby delivered and directed a strong attack. Eby set herself up for another service run with an ace making it 9-2. The score would be 17-2 in no time as the Charleston offense rallied behind Eby's serves again before the Senators were finally able to recover the ball.

UC easily distanced themselves from their foes on the scoreboard, but Eby had one last say on the stat line as she floated a knuckleball over the net that couldn't be handled by the D&E defense to set the final score at 25-9.

The Golden Eagles put 9.5 blocks on the stat sheet for the evening to just 3.0 for Davis & Elkins in taking the four set victory.

Hibbs-Leyva led the balanced Charleston attack with 12 kills and four digs, while Hardison and Goss were on her heels with 11 and 10, respectively. Williams directed the attack with a double-double of 22 assists and 11 digs, while Eby was pivotal from the service line yet managed a double-double of 15 assists and 12 digs.

Ashley Douglas (Ontario, Canada ) led the way defensively with 16 digs.

UC now hits the road for a 6:00 pm contest against WVIAC opponent Glenville State on Wednesday, Oct. 26.