CHENEY, Wash. – It was a back-and-forth affair on Friday night (Nov. 3) between the Eastern Washington University volleyball team and the visiting Northern Colorado Bears. After a five-set battle that saw a 40-minute third set, with 18 ties and 12 lead changes, the battle went the Eagles' way as they topped the Bears 3-2 (25-16, 16-25, 34-36, 25-18, 9-15).
 
Prior to the start of the match, seniors Megan LaFond, Ashley Seiler and Chloe Weber were honored before taking to Reese Court one final time. In the final home match of the season, EWU saw three players garner kills into the double digits and LaFond, Seiler and Regan Harr each collected double-doubles. As a team, the Eagles set a season-high 11 blocks.
 
"I want to thank our seniors and their parents tonight for coming out and supporting us all year. I thought the crowd was fantastic and we played to their energy level. I was impressed with our band, Code Red, tonight, they were in to every point and every play," said head coach Michael King. "I couldn't be prouder of our team and they came out and fought every point and every play. That's the kind of energy we have been looking for. We've found it at points throughout the season, but we haven't brought it every night. We brought it tonight, and I couldn't be happier for them."
 
EWU came out fast in the first set and opened up a 7-1 lead over UNC. A 4-0 run late in the set helped Eastern open a 21-10 lead as they cruised to a 25-16 victory. The Eagles hit .256 in the first set and had 17 kills and only six attack errors. They were able to limit UNC to a -.027 hitting percentage in the opening frame.
 
In set two, it was the Bears who opened a 14-7 lead over Eastern Washington. The Eagles couldn't cut their deficit and played from behind most of the set, falling 25-16.
 
Although it didn't go the Eagles' way, falling 36-34, a lively Reese Court Senior Night crowd was treated to a back-and-forth third set that lasted 40 minutes and included each team fighting off set-point five times.
 
Trailing 22-21, a kill from Leanna Shymanksi sparked a 3-0 run for the Eagles to lead 24-22. UNC led 25-24 before a pair of attack errors gave Eastern a 26-25 edge. Down 27-26, Taylor Larsen came up with a key block to tie the set back up 27-27. The Bears looked to close it out with a 33-32 lead when Ashley Seiler came down with a kill and Shymanski had a solo block to lead 34-33. It was UNC that eventually prevailed and fired off three final shots to end the third set thriller, 36-34.
 
Down, but not out, the Eagles opened a 9-3 lead in the fourth set to force a Northern Colorado timeout. The Bears fought back with a 4-0 run to lead 15-14, but five straight kills from EWU gave them the lead right back. With a two-point lead, Eastern closed out the fourth set with another 5-0 run to send the match into the fifth set, 25-18.
 
Set five was another back-and-forth battle for both sides with five ties and three lead changes. With the set tied 6-6, the Eagles claimed six of the next seven points to lead 12-7. A kill by Megan LaFond and two Bear attack errors gave Eastern the 15-9 victory on Senior Night.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern snaps an eight-match losing streak to improve to 4-10 in Big Sky play and 7-16 overall. This marked the first win over Northern Colorado since Sept. 26, 2015, ending a four-match skid to the Bears. The Eagles are now 5-2 in five-set matches this season. UNC slips to 6-8 in conference play and 13-14 overall.
 
TOP PERFORMERS: The Eagles had three players tally kills into the double digits in seniors Megan LaFond and Ashley Seiler who led the team with 19 apiece, while Taylor Larsen had 11. Seiler and LaFond also garnered double-doubles and the 19 kills was a career high for LaFond.
 
Freshman Catelyn Linke led the team with 28 digs, just two shy of her career high. Regan Harr also had a double-double as she led the team with 50 assists.
 
KEY STATS: As a team, the Eagles totaled a season-high 11 blocks and kept up with Northern Colorado who had 12. Eastern hit at a .197 clip and held the Bears to a .097 attack percentage.
 
NOTEABLES: Megan LaFond captured the third double-double of her career, setting a career high 19 kills and adding 23 digs in the process. Ashley Seiler also had a double-double of 19 kills and 16 digs, the 11th of the season and 19^th of her career. Regan Harr had 50 assists and 19 digs for her 21st career double-double.
 
NEXT UP: With two spots remaining in the Big Sky Championship, the Eagles will look to keep the momentum going as they hit the road for two straight matches at Montana State (Nov. 9) and Montana (Nov. 11).