The University of Mary Washington volleyball team came out strong in the early going, survived a bump in the third game, and survived a tenuous fourth to defeat Salisbury University, 3-1, in the 2022 Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday at Ron Rosner Arena. The Eagles, 24-7 on the season, receive an automatic bid to next week's NCAA Tournament.

In the first, the Eagles raced to an early 8-3 lead, and consecutive kills from Krista Rodgers, Jordan Lyons, and Chloe Crosen upped the advantage to 11-4. Salisbury battled back to 14-9, but four straight points, capped by a Crosen kill, gave the Eagles an 18-9 cushion. The Sea Gulls again responded, cutting the margin to 21-16 before UMW escaped with a 25-18 win, punctuated by a kill from Sarah Moore.

In the second, Salisbury jumped ahead, 9-3, and it was the Eagles' turn to fight from behind. Six consecutive points for UMW knotted the score at 9-9, and the game went back-and-forth from there. The Sea Gulls led, 13-12, before a string of three straight return the lead and momentum to the hosts. The lead remained tenuous, as the score stood tied at 20-20, but Salisbury scored the final six points of the game to take a 25-20 win.

UMW opened the third with the first five points, and led, 12-3, before Salisbury bounced back. With UMW leading 15-9, the Eagles scored eight of the next 11 points to get to the brink of a win in the game, and a kill by Caitlyn Burch capped the scoring, with UMW taking the third, 25-16.

Six straight points early on gave UMW a comfortable lead in the fourth, but again Salisbury rallied, and took the lead at 11-10. UMW scored the next four points to regain momentum, and after both teams found hot streaks, the Eagles scored the final five points for the win. Emily Flamm had two big kills in the match-ending run.

Lyons led the Eagles with 15 kills and 26 digs, while Rodgers scored 10 kills without an error. Lauren Foley notched 23 assists, and Brenna Campbell added 18, and Lyons added four service aces. Hannah Livermon posted 20 digs, while Moore added 12 and Livermon 10. Rodgers led with four solo blocks.

The Eagles win the C2C Championship for the third time ever, with their other wins coming in 1991 and 2016. The Eagles will play in next week's NCAA Diviion III Tournament, starting on Thursday. The selection announcement show will air live at 1:00 p.m. on ncaa.com.