CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team fell in straight sets (16-25, 18-25, 23-25) this evening (Nov. 8) to Montana State inside Reese Court. The Eagles swung at a .347 clip with 20 kills and only three errors in the third set and had three players hit the double-digit mark in kills, but came up short.
 
"We only have seven healthy players right now and we played with a lot of heart, especially with that being the first time we've thrown that lineup in. You could see as the match went on we progressed and continually got better," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Kahle Elliott was wonderful and stepped up again for us as did Kamille Langford in the third set. We did some really good things."
 
Montana State came out and opened a 6-2 lead over the Eagles in set one. Eastern worked to come within one point following a block from Kahle Elliott and Kassandra Thomazin, 13-12, but MSU responded with a 5-0 run to lead by six. It was all Bobcats after that as they closed the set on a 6-1 scoring run to take the opening set 25-16.
 
The Eagles opened up the second set on a 5-1 run that included two aces from MaKenna Davis. Eastern led 9-4 when the Bobcats scored five straight points to tie the set at nine all. Another four straight points gave MSU its first lead of the set, 14-10. Both teams exchanged points, but EWU could never dwindle the Bobcat's lead, falling 25-18.
 
Trailing 8-4 in the critical third set, a kill from Davis, an ace from ShaRae Niu and a kill from Elliott put Eastern within one point. Down by three, a kill apiece from Davis and Elliott and a service ace from Catelyn Linke tied the set at 13-all and forced an MSU timeout. Another 3-0 scoring run by the Eagles gave them a two-point lead, but they couldn't put the Bobcats away as they scored four points straight to lead by two and force an EWU timeout.
 
Down 18-10, two kills from Elliott followed by three-straight from Kamille Langford gave Eastern a 23-20 advantage. However, the Bobcats clawed back and ended the set on a 5-0 run to take the 25-23 victory and the match 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern drops to 8-19 and 0-15 in Big Sky Conference play with the decision while Montana State improves to 11-15 and 6-9. Montana State earns the season sweep, as they topped the Eagles in five sets in Bozeman back on Oct. 13. The series history now moves to 53-23 in EWU's favor, but the Eagles have now lost the last three meetings. Eastern Washington still owns a 32-6 all-time record inside Reese Court.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Kahle Elliott led the team with a career-high 13 kills, followed by Kamille Langford who had 11 and MaKenna Davis who compiled 10. Davis also led the team with two service aces and Elliot led the way with two blocks.
 
ShaRae Niu paced Eastern's offense with a career-best 29 assists. Catelyn Linke had 20 digs while Puaoolelagi Sao had 12. Davis was two digs shy of a double-double, collecting eight.
 
KEY STATS: Eastern hit at a .123 clip with 37 kills on 130 attempts with 21 errors. Montana State was able to hit .284 with 43 kills and only 10 errors on 116 attempts. Eastern had four service aces to MSU's three, but were out-blocked eight to three.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles have a quick turnaround as they host Montana tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Reese Court. Admission is complimentary to the public.
 
MORE FROM FLORES-CLOUD: "The players that are out there have a whole bunch of heart and they love the game, that's the mentality. We have a lot of injuries but we're not giving up and it shows by the fact that we got 20 kills in the third set. We had a lot of heart tonight and I'm sad that we missed this one."
 
On Hosting Montana Tomorrow Night: "Tonight in set three we had a different lineup, but we need to sideout better than we did. That was a big area where Montana State took it to us, we need to be better than Montana tomorrow. I hope Kahle Elliott and Kamille Langford can step up again tomorrow and that all of our hitters shine."