GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Day two of the UND Classic started off in the win column today (Aug. 31) for the Eastern Washington University volleyball team. The Eagles took on Louisiana Tech for their first of two matches on Friday and took a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-23) decision. After dropping the first set, EWU bounced back to take three straight to move to 4-1 on the season. With the loss, LA Tech drops to 1-3. Eastern will be back in action this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. PT to take on Western Carolina.
 
"Today, I thought Puaoolelagi Sao stepped up for us in the libero spot. Catelyn Linke came out of the libero spot and stepped up for us offensively. To have a double-double and almost lead us in kills in only three out of the four sets is great, she did well for us," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We put an emphasis on what we wanted to do on our side, not what they were doing on their side. They had some players have phenomenal games and we were able to take a few of their outside hitters out of the game. We made adjustments on our side in how we wanted to attack them."
 
Despite hitting .262 in the first set with 11 kills and no errors, EWU fell by a small margin. After both teams settled in for the first frame, neither side took more than a two-point lead until LA Tech was able to pull ahead 16-13. Eastern took its first lead, 21-20, after capitalizing on two Tech errors to force a timeout. Facing set point, LA Tech would commit another error but the Eagles weren't able to score after that, dropping set one 25-23.
 
Eastern came out swinging in the second set, opening a 6-1 lead after a trio of kills. A service ace from Catelyn Linke helped extend the lead to 10-5. Another trio of errors from LA Tech helped Eastern lead 19-14 and the Eagles never looked back after that. Up 22-19, EWU fired off three-straight points that included two kills from Taylor Larsen as they evened the match with a 25-19 set two victory.
 
Both sides exchanged leads early on in the fourth set as Eastern was able to pull away midway through to lead 13-10. Later in the set, a Samantha Boever service ace helped EWU lead by four. LA Tech would creep back and cut Eastern's lead to two to force a timeout as they were able to fight off set point twice. However, MaKenna Davis would hammer down a kill to give EWU a 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead.
 
The Eagles led 8-5 early in the decisive fourth set. The Techsters would then use a 4-0 run to lead EWU by three, 15-12. Eastern Washington exploded for seven straight points that included two kills from Davis and two from Kaminsky. Kaitlin Sugai and Kaminsky were also there at the net during the run for a key block as the Eagles looked to put LA Tech down for good, 21-18. LA Tech fought back, cutting Eastern's lead to two points and fighting off match point three separate times. After an EWU timeout, Linke emerged with a kill to put the set away, 25-23, and give Eastern its fourth victory on the year with a 3-1 decision.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Off to their best start since the 2006 season, the Eagles are now 4-1 on the year. LA Tech falls to 1-3 on the young season. EWU now extends its lead in the series history, 2-0. The two teams will rematch tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. PT to close out the UND Classic for Eastern Washington.
 
TOP PERFORMERS: Freshman Kennedy Kaminsky led the Eagles with a career-high 13 kills and a hitting percentage of .300 (13k-4e-30ta). She was followed closely by Catelyn Linke who tied her career-high 11 kills and also turned in 10 digs for her third career double-double. Puaoolelagi Sao led the team with a career-best 21 digs. MaKenna Davis was the third Eagle with double-digit digs (10) and also led Eastern with three service aces, tying a career-high. Kaminsky, Taylor Larsen and Kaitlin Sugai each put up two blocks to lead EWU. Kamille Langford swung .417 (6k-1e-12ta) to pace Eastern offensively.
 
KEYS TO THE MATCH: Although the Techsters performed higher in nearly every statistical category, Eastern Washington swung at a clip of .204 with 48 kills on 157 attack attempts and only 16 errors. They limited LA Tech to just .161 (56k-29e-168).
 
WHAT'S NEXT: The Eagles are back in action today at 2:30 PT to face Western Carolina. The UND Classic concludes tomorrow morning with a rematch against LA Tech at 8 a.m.
 
MORE FROM FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On Bouncing Back after Dropping Set One: "Samantha Boever ran a really nice offense and we started finding ways to score and we started serving tougher. We started to serve tougher and adjusted things so that we could be better blockers. We didn't have any defense whatsoever in the first set."
 
On Facing Western Carolina Tonight: "Western Carolina is really, really, solid. We're going to have to be better at vision and seeing our hitters. We're going to need to be a little more terminal if we want to see success tonight."