GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Two former Big Sky Conference rivals met for the first time in a nonconference setting this morning, as the Eastern Washington University volleyball team faced North Dakota on the first day of the UND Classic (Aug. 30). The Eagles suffered their first loss of the season to the Fighting Hawks, 3-0. With the loss, EWU drops to 3-1 on the year while UND improves to 2-3.
 
"The biggest lesson we learned today was the ability to believe in yourself. We did some things really well that I was asking of them, especially in game two. As soon as we have any self-doubt, it really shows," said first-year head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Postgame we talked a lot about going into a game already defeating ourselves. This is a life lesson about believing in yourself and in everything you do, even out of volleyball. I want them to have self-confidence and know they are working hard in everything they do."
 
The Eagles struggled to find momentum in the first set, dropping it 25-10 after trailing by as many as 15 points and hitting at an even percentage.
 
Eastern kept it much closer in the second set, trailing only by one or two points at a time. A MaKenna Davis service ace and a kill by Alexandra Espinosa helped the Eagles stay in the match, 11-9, early on. Down by just one point following a kill from Kennedy Kaminsky, UND would use a 5-0 run to lead 23-17. That wouldn't keep the Eagles down, as they capitalized with solo block from Kamille Langford and another block from Langford and Taylor Larsen to come back within three points. However, the Fighting Hawks hammered down consecutive kills to win 25-20 and take a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.
 
In the middle of the third set, UND was able to use an 8-1 run to lead 19-9. A later run of 5-0 helped them extend the lead to 24-10. Facing match point, Davis hammered down a kill followed by a block from Kaminsky and Larsen, but it wasn't enough as Eastern fell 25-12 and dropped its first match of the season, 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington suffers its first loss of the 2018 campaign, now dropping to 3-1 on the season. North Dakota improves to 2-3 with the win. The series record now moves to 1-12 in favor of the Fighting Hawks. Eastern has now dropped six straight to UND and is 0-7 on the road against the former conference rival.
 
TOP PERFORMERS: MaKenna Davis led the team with eight kills and a career-high three service aces. Samantha Boever led the team with 21 assists while Catelyn Linke totaled 19 digs. Kennedy Kaminsky led the Eagles in hitting percentage with a .250 clip (5k-1e-16ta). Kamille Langford had three total blocks.
 
KEY'S TO THE MATCH: The Fighting Hawks swung at a .263 clip (41k-11e-114ta) compared to Eastern's .027 clip (25k-22e-113ta). The Fighting Hawks also put up 12 blocks to Eastern's five and served up six aces to Eastern's three. UND led for the entirety of the match, never letting EWU come within more than one point. Catelyn Linke totaled 19 digs to lead all players, including UND.
 
WHAT IT MEANS: This is Eastern's first loss of 2018. Its 3-0 start was the best since 2002 and the Leslie Flores-Cloud was the first coach in EWU volleyball history to open an inaugural season 3-0. EWU still has three more chances to earn positive results this weekend at the UND Classic.
 
WHAT'S NEXT: The UND Classic continues tomorrow with matches against Louisiana Tech at 8 a.m. PT and Western Carolina at 2:30 PT. Play concludes on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. with one more match against LA Tech.
 
NOTEABLES: Taylor Larsen tallied a career-high nine digs and MaKenna Davis served up a career-best three service aces. This is the first match of the season that a team as outblocked the Eagles. Catelyn Linke has now compiled double-digit digs in three out of four matches.
 
MORE FROM COACH FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On Top-Performances: "Catelyn Linke is back there digging balls like she is supposed to. She's been such a good player for us defensively. She led all players with 19 kills, even out-digging UND's libero, she did some great things. MaKenna Davis had three aces so it was nice to see good serving back there."
 
On Prepping for Tomorrow's Matches: "I want to get better at siding out. When you see us do well, it's because we're able to side out really well. When I called our last timeout in the second game, were siding out by 68-percent and we were only losing by two points. If we can side out, we're in any game so we have to get better at that."