GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team fell to Western Carolina in its second match of the day (Aug. 31_, 3-1 (24-26, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22) at the UND Classic. The Eagles dropped the first two sets, but were able to push the match to four sets with a third set victory. With the loss, EWU drops to 4-2 on the year while the Catamounts improve to 4-1.
The Eagles hit .231 in the first set with only four errors. Trailing 4-5, EWU fired off four-straight points that included
Kaitlin Sugai's first kill as an Eagle to lead 8-5. Eastern trailed 14-10 at one point during the set and eventually worked the lead to 21-17. The Eagles looked to put the Catamounts away when WCU used a 4-0 run to take a 24-23 lead. A Catamount attack error tied the set, 24-24, but WCU was able to come back and fire off two more points to take set one, 26-24.
Eastern Washington jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second set. After WCU tied it at 8-all, they were eventually able to take the lead, 11-10. Midway through the set, the Catamounts used a 5-0 run to lead 21-16. A kill from
Kennedy Kaminsky put EWU back within three, but it wasn't enough as Western Carolina took set two, 25-20.
Both sides traded points early on in the decisive third set. Eastern used a 4-0 run, that included two kills from
Catelyn Linke, to lead 10-7. Another 4-0 run gave EWU a 15-12 lead, but the two sides continued to trade points until the match was tied 22-22. Sugai hammered down two consecutive kills to give Eastern a 24-22 lead. WCU would gain a point off of a bad set from Eastern to force a timeout, but a Catamount attack error sealed the victory EWU and kept them alive, 25-23.
"I thought
Catelyn Linke played very solid today and our middles did some really nice things as well," noted head coach
Leslie Flores-Cloud.
Eastern swung .239 in the fourth set (16k-5e-46ta) and held an early 9-8 lead despite trailing 7-4 early on. A quick 3-0 run from the Eagles tied the match at 14-14, but they couldn't put the Catamounts away as WCU took its lead back, 20-16. Three consecutive kills from Linke put Eastern within one point, 20-19 and another two kills from Linke tied the set at 21-all. Western Carolina would finish on a 4-1 run to close out the set, 25-22, and take the match 3-1.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern drops to 4-2 on the season while Western Carolina improves to 4-1. This was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
TOP PERFORMERS: Catelyn Linke led the way with a career-high 19 kills and also led Eastern with two service aces.
Taylor Larsen was the other Eagle with double-digit kills, posting a season-high 11 and also led Eastern in hitting percentage, swinging .281 (11k-2e-32ta).
Samantha Boever had 42 assists to lead the team.
Puaoolelagi Sao led EWU with a career-best 23 digs, followed by
ShaRae Niu who also had double-digit digs with 15.
KEY'S TO THE MATCH: While both teams were even with 55 kills and Eastern hit .202 compared to Western Carolina's .198 hitting percentage, the Catamounts served up 13 aces to Eastern's three. Additionally, WCU outblocked Eastern eight to three.
WHAT'S NEXT: Eastern closes out the UND Classic tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. PT with a rematch against LA Tech. The Eagles topped the Techsters, 3-1, earlier today.
