OGDEN, Utah – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team fell to Weber State in straight sets on Thursday evening (Oct. 26), dropping to 6-14 on the season and 3-8 in Big Sky Conference play.
Emma Dunn made her first career start in her home state, setting a career-high 35 assists. Ashley Seiler (14 kills, 11 digs) and Megan LaFond (12 kills, 11 digs) collected double-doubles for the second straight match.
In the opening set, both sides traded points and Seiler had four kills early on. With the set within one point, 12-11, Weber State exploded for nine straight points to lead 21-11. The Eagles could not catch them and dropped the opening set 25-14.
In the second set, Eastern strung together a 4-0 run that included two kills from LaFond and a service ace from Catelyn Linke to go up 11-7. A 5-3 run from the Wildcats tied the set up 12-12, and they used another run later to lead 17-15. Taylor Larsen would tally a kill late in the second set, but it wasn't enough as WSU cruised to another 25-20 victory.
It took EWU a while to find momentum coming out of the break in the third set, as they trailed 9-5 and were forced to call a timeout. Later in the set, Eastern broke out on a 5-0 run that included three kills from Seiler to trail by one, 16-15. The Wildcats would respond and pull back ahead 19-15. Eastern Washington could not answer as they dropped the third set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern now moves to 6-14 on the year and 3-8 in BSC play. The Wildcats improve to 6-17 overall and 4-7 in the Big Sky. EWU snapped a five-match win streak over Weber State, but still lead the all-time series 43-41.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ashley Seiler led the team with 14 kills, followed by Megan LaFond who had 12. Emma Dunn dished out 35 assists. Catelyn Linke had 12 digs, followed by Seiler and LaFond who each had 11.
KEY STATS: Weber State, who ranks second in the Big Sky in blocks, had seven blocks compared to Eastern's three. WSU also hit .308 with only nine errors, while Eastern had 20 errors and hit .149.
NOTEABLES: Both Ashley Seiler and Megan LaFond garnered double-doubles for the second straight match. It was Seiler's 10th of the season and 18th of her career. For LaFond, it was the second of her career.
LaFond now has double-digit digs in every single match but one this season. Seiler has double-digit kills in 16 matches this year and double-digit digs in 10.
Emma Dunn made her first career start and dished out a career-high 35 assists. She also had a career-high two blocks and was one dig short of a double-double.
