LAKEWOOD, N.J. -- For the first time in six years, Post University Women's Volleyball is heading back to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship as the Eagles took down North Division three-seeded Dominican (N.Y.) in the CACC Semifinals on Saturday afternoon, 3-1, behind graduate outside hitter Kristina Peric's 19-kill performance as a team hitting percentage of .238 in the match. 

THE BASICS

Post University 3, Dominican (N.Y.) 1

Post University (20-10)

Dominican (N.Y.) (12-13)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Beyond the 19-kill outing for Peric, graduate outside hitter Sara Enright and senior outside hitter Caley Harper also paved the way offensively for the Eagles recording 13 kills and 10 kills respectively while both hitting over. 200 and registering a combined 65 attempts as a unit. Defensively, junior libero Alyssa Groves, who is this year's CACC Defensive Player of the Year, had a game-high 27 digs which narrowly beat out the 23 digs that graduate libero Linda Armao Peng had for the Lady Chargers in their defeat.

Among all Dominican (N.Y.) players, senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Carr was the only one to reach double figures in kills with 11 for the Lady Chargers on 44 attempts and six errors for a .114 hitting percentage. As a team, Dominican (N.Y.) attacked the ball at a .118 clip with 23 errors, including nine in the first set, while Post attacked at .238 for the game with only 19 errors. Those nine first-set errors by the Lady Chargers helped the Eagles jump out to a 4-0 edge and never relinquish the lead, although Dominican (N.Y.) would force two ties at 10 and 11. 

Three kills from Peric as part of a 5-0 run with the set tied at 11 allowed Post to pull away, 25-17, before a 9-1 start in the second set which the Eagles nearly came back from to tie things at 14 all, would go the way of the Lady Chargers. After tying that set, Dominican (N.Y.) used two kills from senior middle blocker Aaliyah Ellis, two errors by the Eagles, and a kill from junior outside hitter Elizabeth Perez to spark a 6-0 run which they used to earn a 25-19 set victory. 

Set three would be Post's time to jump out to an early lead again with a 6-0 start helping them go ahead comfortably in part to three total errors made between Perez and Carr. But scoring seven of the next eight points helped Dominican (N.Y.) come back into the set and even take a 14-10 lead behind two Eagle errors and a service ace from Carr along the way. Following a timeout by Head Coach Tiffany Verni, Post would be able to regroup as Enright and Harper combined for three kills and senior middle hitter Hannah Brandt delivered a service ace and kill to lift the Eagles back ahead by one, 15-14. 

Tied at 18, Peric helped start a 6-0 run with two kills and Groves delivered three service aces, putting Post on the cusp of winning set three which they would do, 25-19, after a service error by Armao Peng. As was the case in sets one and three, the Eagles scored early and often to the tune of a 3-0 lead and never looked back from there to punch their ticket to the CACC Championship with a 25-13 win in set four en route to a 3-1 victory. Post led by as many as 11 points, 21-10, in set four before their eventual set-high 12-point edge at the end of it for the win. 

BY THE NUMBERS 

• Kristina Peric delivered a team-high 19 kills on 47 attempts with only eight errors, leading to a .234 hitting percentage -- Sara Enright hit at .22 with 13 kills on 36 attempts in the win for Post University 
• When Post University's attack percentage is above .200 for an entire match, they are 15-0 this season – When the Eagles attack below .200 as a team, they are 5-10 overall, Post attacked at a .238 clip this afternoon against Dominican (N.Y.)
• Post University has now won four consecutive matches against Dominican (N.Y.) dating back to the 2023 season after losing three of their previous four in the head-to-head matchup before that 
• This is the first time since the 2018 season that Post University has advanced to the CACC Championship -- That season, they fell to Holy Family University, 3-1, in four sets 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University will look for their first CACC Championship since 2015 tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 PM against the South Division's top seed in Georgian Court University. This will be the first time the two teams have met in the CACC Championship in the history of the CACC Tournament. In the regular season matchup on November 9th, the Eagles fell in five sets, 3-2, after leading the Lions, 2-1, and dropping sets four and five.