Big Sky Tournament Bracket
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The Eastern Washington University volleyball team begins its hunt for the Big Sky Volleyball Tournament this Thursday, as the No. 7-seeded Eagles take on second-seed Sacramento State in a First Round matchup. First serve from the University of North Dakota is set for 9:30 a.m. PT.
The Eagles enter the Big Sky Volleyball Tournament as the No. 7 seed after going an even 8-8 through the conference's regular season. Eastern Washington finished the regular season one match above the .500-mark at 13-12 and comes into this week's Championships on a two-match winning streak after sweeping both Montana schools at Reese Court last Thursday and Saturday.
Sacramento State comes into the Tournament as the No. 2-seed after going 13-3 in league play and capture the South Division titles. The Hornets are 19-11 overall and are currently on an eight-match winning streak that began back on Oct. 20 against Idaho.
The entire 2016 Big Sky Championship will be played in Grand Forks, North Dakota, as the Fighting Hawks of UND captured the regular season Big Sky title with a 14-2 mark in conference play. North Dakota ended the season on an eight-match winning streak to capture the conference's regular season title.
Last Time Out
The Eastern Washington University volleyball team gave a perfect send-off at home for senior Sophie Miller, with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-10, 25-21) victory against Montana on Saturday (Nov. 12) in the final regular season game.
Big Sky Championships
This season marks the second-straight year that the Eagles have qualified for the Big Sky Volleyball Tournament after a three-year hiatus from the Tournament from 2012-2014. Eastern was also the No. 7 seed in last season's field and dropped a heartbreaking five-set match to No. 2 Idaho State in the first round.
EWU is 18-17 all-time in the Big Sky Volleyball Tournament, but they have not won a match in the Tournament since 2008, when they beat Weber State in straight sets in the First Round. Eastern has claimed two Big Sky Tournament titles in its history, winning its first in 1989 then captured the crown again in 2001.
All-Time Series
The Hornets hold a 32-17 lead all-time against Eastern Washington in a series that dates back to 1995. Sacramento State picked up a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20) victory over the Eagles back on Oct. 22 of this season.
Sophomore Ka'iulani Ahuna paced the offense with 10 kills and 11 digs to pick up a double-double, while senior setter Sophie Miller also posted a double-double with 25 assists and 11 digs.
Leaving Reese the Right Way
Senior Sophie Miller concluded her collegiate playing career at Reese Court last weekend, and the senior went out the right way, as she helped Eastern pick up victories over Montana State and Montana to go 2-0 on the year's final home stand.
Miller was a big factor in both victories, as she picked up a total of 64 assists, eight digs, seven aces and seven kills. The Federal Way, Washington native hit above .333 in both matches, and landed a career-best five service aces on Thursday (Nov. 10) against the Bobcats.
Conference Rankings
The Eagles ended the regular season with the second-best opponent hitting percentage in the Big Sky, as they held the opposition to a .170 mark against them.
Senior setter Sophie Miller enters the Big Sky Tournament as one of the Conference's biggest weapons from the service area, as Miller ranks second in the Big Sky in aces-per-set at 0.43. Miller is also ninth in the Big Sky in assists-per-set with her team-best 7.90 average.
Junior Ashlee Vaoifi ended the regular season inside the Top 10 of the Big Sky in digs-per-set with her 4.00 average.
Knowing Your Opponent: Sacramento State
The Hornets enter this week's Big Sky Tournament looking for revenge, as they fell to their South Division rival, and eventual champion, Northern Arizona in last year's Semifinal. Sacramento State comes into the Tournament on an eight-match winning streak, which propelled them to the South Division championship with a 13-5 mark in Big Sky matches.
SSU is hitting .220 as a team, which is the fourth-best mark in the Big Sky. Senior Courtney Dietrich leads the Big Sky in hitting percentage with a .365 hitting percentage. Dietrich has landed a total 162 kills on 345 attempts with just 36 attack errors on the year. Junior Shannon Boyle paces the Hornets with a 3.51 kills-per-set average, which is fourth-best in the conference. Senior Madeline Cannon also ranks inside the Top 10 in the Big Sky in kills-per-set with her 3.10 (9th). Junior setter Kennedy Kurtz leads the Conference in assists-per-set at 11.4
Defensively, the Hornets are limiting teams to a .184 hitting percentage. SSU is the top team in the Big Sky in terms of digs-per-set, as they are posting a conference-best 17.57 digs-per-set average. Senior Lexie Skalbeck is tops in the league in dig-per-set with her 5.14 average.
For more information on the Eastern Washington volleyball team, follow @EWUVolleyball on Twitter or like EWU Volleyball on Facebook.
