RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A weekend the Eastern Washington University volleyball team likely won't forget finished in five sets this evening (Aug. 25), as the Eagles topped UC Riverside in a closely-contested five frames (25-17, 26-24, 24-26, 19-25, 15-13). The Eagles opened the match 2-0 before dropping the next two and bouncing back to take the victory and move to 3-0 overall on the season.
 
The start marks the first time since the 2002 campaign that the Eagles have begun the season 3-0. Additionally, Leslie Flores-Cloud becomes the first head coach in Eastern Washington volleyball history to begin an inaugural season 3-0. The Eagles leave the Titan Classic as the only undefeated squad, sweeping UMass Lowell 3-0 on Friday and taking Akron 3-1 earlier this morning.
 
"That was awesome. The girls played with so much fight and they played for each other, it was great what I saw out there from them," noted Flores-Cloud. "I'm so incredibly proud of them and their fight and if they can come into every game they play with the fight that we had tonight, we're going to do some great things this season."
 
The Eagles came out swinging in set one as they hit at a .281 clip with only three attacking errors. After falling behind 5-1, it was all Eastern as they used a 3-0 run to take their first lead of the set, 11-10. Down by one point, Eastern capitalized on five UCR errors on a 6-0 run to lead 21-16. They would then end the set on a 4-0 run, capped off by two service aces from Grace Nelson to take a 25-17 set one victory and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Eastern Washington jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set. A 4-0 run later in the set put them up 18-13, but the Highlanders wouldn't back down. Up by six, 20-14, UCR cut the lead to one point. After a Highlander service error, the set was tied 23-23. A kill by UCR made it set point in their favor, until the Eagles fired off three quick points to come from behind and take set two, 26-24.
 
Much like set two, the third set was closely contested as both sides exchanged points with this set ending in the Highlander's favor. Neither side led by more than three points in the third frame. Facing set point and down by one, Taylor Larsen hammered down a kill followed by a Catelyn Linke service ace to tie the set 24-24. However, it wasn't enough as UCR fired off two quick points to take a 26-24 victory in set three.
 
EWU struggled to gain momentum in set four as they dropped the set 25-19 to send the match into a decisive fifth set. The fifth frame was as closely contested as the previous four. Trailing 11-10, the Eagles went on a 3-0 run highlighted by two kills from Kamille Langford to pull ahead 13-11 and force a UCR timeout. The Highlanders eventually cut the Eagles lead to just one point. Facing match point, freshman Kennedy Kaminsky hammered down the winning kill, giving Eastern a 15-13 set five victory and a 3-2 win.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: The Eagles improve to a historic 3-0 overall, while the Highlanders fall to 2-1. This is the third all-time meeting between the two squads with Eastern now holding the 2-1 advantage.
 
WHAT IT MEANS: With the win, the Eagles have swept the Titan Classic with victories over UMass Lowell, Akron and co-hosts UC Riverside to start the season. They are now 3-0 for the first time since the 2002 season.
 
TOP PERFORMERS: For the second straight match, senior Alexandra Espinosa set a new career-high to lead the team in kills, this time with 21. Freshman Kennedy Kaminsky followed with 11 and also led the team with three service aces. Junior Samantha Boever posted a double-double in the second consecutive match, setting new high with 44 assists to lead the team in addition to 16 digs. She also posted three service aces. Catelyn Linke also set a career-high with 33 digs. Taylor Larsen led the Eagles with six blocks, a career-high. MaKenna Davis led the team in hitting percentage with a .286 clip (8k-0e-28ta). Puaoolelagi Sao was the other Eagle that hit double-digits in digs with 12.
 
KEY STATS: The Highlanders hit at a higher clip than the Eagles, .209 compared to .176. However, Eastern only committed 21 errors on 193 attempts with 55 kills. The Eagles also won the serving battle with 10 aces compared to UCR's six. Both teams had nine blocks each.
 
WHAT'S NEXT: The Eagles now turn their sights to the UND Classic next week where they play four matches in three days. The tournament begins against the hosts North Dakota on Aug. 30. The following day, Eastern takes on Louisiana Tech and Western Carolina before closing out the classic on Sept. 1 with another matchup against Louisiana Tech.
 
MORE FROM FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On Winning in Five Sets: "It's important to be positive for them. I need to make sure that they know that I believe that they can do it, and I do. I believe that we have the control. Our serving was on all weekend and we were the better serving team today. We were the better passing team and that will squeak it out"
 
On Gaining Experience with a Young Group: "We gained a lot of experience this weekend. Today was an opportunity to grow. During game three today, we were down 23-20 and I called a timeout and I told them that we had an opportunity to grow in this moment, and we went out and tied it 24-all. It makes a big different to let them know I believe in them."
 
On Team Culture: "It took everyone today. We had so much love coming from the bench in telling us where to hit and what they did last time, everyone was engaged. We changed our lineup to adjust to our outsides being tired, we had to have people step up in different positions and they all played for each other."