CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team opened the Big Sky Conference slate in the win column with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23) victory over Montana on Thursday night (Sept. 21).
"I thought we played really well for long stretches of the match. One of the things we've talked about for a long time is that we don't have to play great volleyball, we have to play good volleyball for long stretches of time," said head coach Michael King. "That's something that I thought we did well tonight."
The Eagles headed to the locker room up 2-0 on the Grizzlies. In the first set, Eastern Washington hit .256 with only six errors on 43 attempts and followed it up with a .273 clip in the second set.
Montana was able to fight back in the third set as the Grizzlies hit .342 with only two errors to down the Eagles 25-19 and stay alive.
Eastern Washington fought back in a thrilling fourth set and claimed a two-point victory, 25-23. Facing set point, the Grizzlies fired off four consecutive points, but their run was ended on an attack error that sealed the 3-1 victory for the Eagles.
"One of the things we established tonight is that when we're ahead, we have to stay ahead," added King. "When we have opportunities to close out a match or stretch it further out, we have to do that. Sometimes we get a little too technical, and that's something that will get better as we mature."
Chloe Weber had an impressive night as the senior hit .412 with nine kills and only two errors. Kahle Elliot was also effective with a .280 clip, followed by Ashley Seiler who hit .178.
Win-Loss Records: The Eagles improve to 4-6 on the season and open Big Sky play with a victory to jump to 1-0, while Montana falls to 5-9 and 0-1 in league play.
What It Means: This is the third straight win for Eastern this season. The Eagles now move to 18-12 all-time in Big Sky Conference openers, and 19-17 all-time in conference-opening matches at the NCAA Division I level. It is the third-straight season EWU has won its conference-opening match, and the second-straight season topping Montana in the conference opener. Last season, Eastern topped the Grizzlies 3-1 in Missoula to open Big Sky play.
Eastern now only trails the all-time series, 39-36, but improve their record inside Reese Court over the Grizzlies, 22-14. EWU has now won three straight over Montana and are 4-3 under head coach Michael King.
Top Performers: Three Eagles recorded double-doubles on the night in Ashley Seiler (17 kills, 11 digs), Regan Harr (32 assists, 11 digs) and Alexandra Espinosa (14 kills, 11 digs).
Seiler lead the team in kills for the 10th straight match, it was also her 13th career double-double and fifth of the season.
Harr's 32 assists lead the team, while freshman Emma Dunn followed close behind with 17.
Kahle Elliott also totaled 10 kills, while Megan LaFond led the team with 19 digs. Jayde Robertsen paced the Eagles with four blocks.
Key Stats: Eastern hit at a .181 clip, while Montana hit .178. The Eagles also registered 61 kills to UM's 43. However, the Grizzlies were able to record more blocks (10) to Eastern's seven. As a team, the Eagles record six service aces while the Grizzlies only had one.
Next Up: Big Sky play continues at home on Saturday (Sept. 23) as the Eagles play host to Montana State at 2 p.m. Admission to all volleyball matches is complimentary.
