Elgin, IL - After dropping their match against Viterbo one night earlier, the Eagles were back at it on Thursday night against Olivet Nazarene. Recently, when these two teams have met, the games have been close battles, evenly matched, and filled with white-knuckle drama. 

Thursday night was no different. Judson got off to a nice start, and held a 21-14 lead. Looking to close things out, Olivet was able to make in impressive rally scoring 12 of the next 15 points. With a big comeback, the Tigers won set one 26-24. 

Freshmen Alyssa Burke had a big night for the Eagles. She led the team in kills with 18 and help keep JU in it early on. 

Judson battled back winning set two 25-19. Mya Williams and Ariadna Marquez were able to come up with some big kills, and key blocks to keep the Eagles in the thick of things. 

The tide turned back to Olivet winning set three 25-19. 

As the match went on, Judson's two leaders started to put the team on their backs. Jaclyn Riedl on the outside, and Maisie Green in the middle. Riedl had 17 kills in the match. Green added nine kills, and three solo blocks. The Eagles won set four 25-22 pushing things to the five set limit. 

Alina Romero helped push the Eagles to the finish line with 27 assists, and 14 digs. 

In the fifth set, Olivet scored five points in a row to take a 6-3 lead in the sprint to 15 points. But the Eagles front line kept swinging to get them back to even. Burke and Marquez came up with fifth set kills for the Eagles. 

Tied at 13, Riedl was able to come away with the final two kills of the night to get the Eagles the set win 15-13, and the match win. The final line score was 24-26, 25-19, 19-25, 25-22, 15-13. 

The Eagles now stand at 4-4 overall, and 2-3 in conference play. The win helps JU climb back into the top half of the standings in CCAC play. Still early on, but a loss would have really put Judson behind the eight ball for a conference high seed. It is the fifth straight win against the Tigers for JU. 

Up next, Judson travels to Oakland City on the weekend.