MISSOULA, Mont. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team took on the Montana Grizzlies tonight (Oct. 11) in Missoula, Mont. The Eagles battled, but fell in four sets, 3-1 (16-25, 20-25, 28-26, 18-25). In the third set, EWU was facing set point, 24-21, when they stormed back to take the set in extra points, 28-26.
"Our players are working hard. A lot of teams would fold after losing the first two sets and go into game three wanting to go home, but these Eagles have grit," said head coach
Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Our team wants to continue to work hard and it shows by not folding in game three. We created our own opportunities by serving more tough and really eliminating our errors."
The Eagles hit .214 in the opening set with only four errors. With the match tied 7-7, the Griz used a 3-0 run to lead 10-7. EWU would come back and the two sides traded points until Montana used a 7-0 run to lead 21-13. It was all Montana from there as they picked up a first set victory, 25-16.
Trailing 11-7, the Eagles used a 3-0 run that included two kills from
Kamille Langford to come within one point. The Griz used a 4-0 run later in the set to extend their lead to 22-17. A kill from
Catelyn Linke and a ball handling error by the Griz put Eastern within three points, but they came up short, dropping the second set 25-20.
Eastern came out aggressive and held a 10-7 lead, but the Griz used a 6-1 run to lead 13-11. Both sides traded points from there, with Montana holding a 20-16 advantage. The Eagles continued to fight, firing off three straight points to come within one point, 21-20.
The Griz worked its lead to 24-21 when the Eagles came back. Back-to-back kills from Langford and
MaKenna Davis, followed by a kill from Linke tied the set at 24-all. The Grizzlies had set point once more, leading 25-24 when Davis hammered down another kill to tie the set back up. UM responded, leading 26-25 when Eastern fought off set point again with an ace from
Samantha Boever. A Griz attack error gave Eastern the 28-26 decision.
"They are a great team, in set three alone they had 20 kills. We were being greedy and defended our serve 10 times in set three and that will create opportunities," added Flores-Cloud. "I talk a lot about sideout percentage, and we sided out at 66-percent in set three and that will win you games."
Eastern trailed 13-6 in the fourth set, but wouldn't back down as they used a 7-2 run to come within five points and force a Montana timeout. The Grizzlies were able to emerge from the timeout on a 3-1 run to take the fourth set, 25-18 and the match 3-1.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, the Eagles drop to 8-11 on the season and 0-7 in conference play. The Grizzlies improve to 8-11 overall and 5-2 in the Big Sky.
The series history now moves to 41-36 in Montana's favor.
TOP PERFORMANCES: Sophomore
MaKenna Davis led the Eagles with 13 kills.
Kamille Langford and
Kaitlin Sugai each had eight. Langford hit .316 on the evening (8k-2e-19ta).
Defensively, Langford and
Kassandra Thomazin led the team with four blocks. Tonight marked the third straight match that Thomazin has lead the team in blocks.
Catelyn Linke led EWU with 11 digs, followed by
Puaoolelagi Sao who had 10.
Samantha Boever dished out 30 assists in addition to seven digs and a service ace.
ShaRae Niu led the team with two aces.
KEY STATS: Montana hit .328 on the night and held Eastern to a .172 clip. Montana also had 12 blocks to EWU's eight and had seven service aces to Eastern's four.
UP NEXT: The three-match road swing continues at Montana State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time.
