CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team competed in its final road match of the season Thursday night (Nov. 14) in Cedar City, Utah against Southern Utah. It was a game of runs that ended in SUU's favor, as the Eagles fell 3-0 (22-25, 19-25, 22-25).
"I would've liked to see us capitalize on some of the things that Southern Utah were giving us. They had 13 service errors and we were getting close, but once they hit 21 points they were really unstoppable," said head coach
Leslie Flores-Cloud. "I thought
Puaoolelagi Sao had a really nice game by leading the entire match in digs for both teams and
Kahle Elliott hit well and set a nice block for us as well."
After Southern Utah opened up a 5-0 run in the first set, they would continue to tack on points and work to a 17-12 advantage and force an Eagle timeout. Trailing 21-16, Eastern Washington used a 4-0 run that included two kills from
Kahle Elliott and one from
Kassandra Thomazin. The run would put EWU within one point and force a Thunderbird timeout. Down and facing set point, Elliott fired off another kill but it wasn't enough as EWU fell in the first set, 25-22.
Eastern found itself down 5-2 in the second frame until a 6-1 scoring run gave them their first lead of the set, 8-6 early on. Tied 10-10, Eastern scored four-straight to open their largest lead of the game, 14-10 and forced a Southern Utah timeout. The Thunderbirds came out of the timeout and responded with a 7-2 scoring run to take the 18-16 lead. Trailing 21-17 after another 3-0 SUU run, Eastern fired off two quick points to cut the deficit to two. From there, the Thunderbirds were able to score four straight and won the second set, 25-19.
The Eagles would not be easily defeated, as they came out in the third set and opened a 5-1 lead over Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds would retaliate with a 5-0 run of their own to lead 8-6. After exchanging points through the middle part of the set, Southern Utah held a 15-11 advantage. Trailing by five, 18-13, Eastern used a 4-0 run that was highlighted by kills from
MaKenna Davis and a
Puaoolelagi Sao service ace to come within one point, 18-17.
After Southern Utah jumped ahead 21-17, another 3-0 run from the Eagles put them back within one point after consecutive kills form Elliott. However, the Thunderbirds would outscore Eastern 4-2 in the final points to claim set three 25-22 and the match 3-0.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington falls to 8-21 on the year with an 0-17 mark in Big Sky Conference play. Southern Utah improves to 6-23 overall and 5-12. The Eagles still own the all-time record, 6-4 after suffering just its second loss in program history in Cedar City.
TOP PERFORMANCES: Kahle Elliott led the way with 13 kills, tying a career-high for the second time this season. Elliott also led the team with two blocks, along with
Kassandra Thomazin and
Catelyn Linke.
Linke served up two aces, while
ShaRae Niu dished out 21 assists. Puauoolelagi Sao led Eastern with 16 digs.
KEY STATS: EWU hit .119 to the Thunderbirds' .254 clip. Both teams were even with 17 errors apiece, but SUU had 49 kills to Eastern's 29. Southern Utah also out-blocked Eastern Washington, 7-to-4, but also had 13 service errors to EWU's five. Additionally, the Eagles served up four aces while SUU only had three.
UP NEXT: The Eagles return home for their final match of the season on Saturday (Nov. 17) when they play host to Northern Arizona for Senior Night. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. Pacific time.
MORE FROM FLORES-CLOUD: "I thought we served really well tonight, so I would like to see that on Saturday. I want to see us play our system a little better, I think we got a little anxious defensively and we're putting balls too tight. I would also like to see our offense balance out a little more and play really hard for our seniors."
