MOSCOW, Idaho – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team faced local Big Sky Conference rival Idaho this evening (Oct. 16) in Moscow. Eastern fell in straight sets (22-25, 19-25, 19-25).
 
"We played well tonight, we were in the game. We're just not siding out at where we need to and I'm surprised that game two was as close as it was, said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "The scores show that we're in it, we just can't get over that hump. As a team, we are blocking and seeing things really well, we just need a little more help putting the ball away."
 
After Idaho jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set, the Eagles had to play catchup. A 6-1 Vandal run midway through the first set put UI up 17-8. The Eagles began to creep back when a kill from Catelyn Linke sparked a 5-0 run that put Eastern within four, 17-13. Idaho continued to pull away, but a kill from Kahle Elliott started a 6-1 run to put EWU within three. Another kill from Elliott and one from Kamille Langford made the score 23-22 in Idaho's favor. The Vandals were able to hold off a late offensive push from the Eagles to take the opening set, 25-22.
 
A 4-0 run that included a kill and an ace from MaKenna Davis and two kills from Linke gave Eastern its largest lead of the match, 9-6. The Vandals used a 5-0 run to lead 14-11 and later pulled ahead 17-13 after another 3-0 spurt. Idaho continued its momentum, using five-straight points to lead 22-14. Facing set point, 24-15, the Eagles refused to fold as they fought off set point four separate times, but came up short and dropped set two, 25-19.
 
Eastern Washington could never quite find its offensive footing in the third set, trailing 14-4 midway through. Facing set point once more, 24-15, a kill from Davis sparked a 4-0 run as the Eagles tried to comeback. The Vandals were able to hold on and win 25-19 to complete the three-set sweep.
 
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern is now 8-13 on the year and 0-9 in Big Sky Conference play following the loss. Idaho improves to 14-8 and 8-3 and is now in sole possession of first-place in the Big Sky following their fifth-straight victory.
 
Tonight marked the 56^th all-time meeting between the two teams, with Idaho leading 37-20. The Vandals have won the last five-straight matchups.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Kamille Langford led the team with 11 kills, hitting .222 on the night with only five errors on 27 attempts. She also had four total blocks. Catelyn Linke also hit over .200 with seven kills and only two errors on 24 attempts.
 
Puaoolelagi Sao led Eastern with 19 digs, followed by MaKenna Davis who had 12 and Linke who had 10. Davis led EWU with two aces.
 
Freshman Kassandra Thomazin led the way with five total blocks, one of them being solo and Samantha Boever dished 26 assists.
 
KEY STATISTICS: For the second straight match, the Eagles outblocked their opponent, tallying nine blocks to Idaho's six. Idaho hit at a .263 (60k-15e-118ta) clip and limited Eastern to .154 (32k-16e-104ta). The Vandals had eight service aces to Eastern's three, but UI also record nine service errors to EWU's four.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern returns to Reese Court to host three-straight, beginning with Northern Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m., followed by Weber State (Oct. 25) and Idaho State (Oct. 26). Admission to all regular season home matches is complimentary to the public.
 
MORE FROM COACH FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On Top Performances: "I think that Kamille Langford had a really nice game and that Kassandra Thomazin was doing great things for us blocking wise. Catelyn Linke also hit above .200 for us and that's what we need her to do. I was really happy with how Kahle Elliott played tonight, she came in and hit above .350 which is great for her."
 
On Returning to Reese Court for Three-Straight: "It will be good to be home. We have some tough teams, three of the top five best teams in the conference, coming in so it's going to be really good volleyball. I think we are settling in as a team and it will help to get Kennedy Kaminsky back to bring us some offense in the middle."