SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In the first match of the Cardinal Classic, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team cruised to a three-set (25-10, 25-21, 25-10) victory over Alcorn State today (Sept. 14). With the win, the Eagles are now 8-3 on the year and have won nine out of their last 10 sets on a three-match win streak.

"Our team did a really nice job of siding out tonight. We sided out at 74-percent and I thought Samantha Boever did a really nice job with our offense. Our offense hit .346 which is nice to see. I also thought Alexandra Espinosa and Kaitlin Sugai had a really great game," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We dropped a little bit in set two because we made too many errors, but we came back and finished it out very efficiently. Tomorrow I'd like to clean up our service errors, but otherwise I think we played a really nice game."
 
The Eagles hit the floor blazing in the opening set, hitting .444 with 12 kills on 27 attempts and no errors. Eastern exploded on a 9-2 run to open the set 10-2 and never looked back. EWU used another run of 6-0 to lead 19-6 and eventually worked its way to a 25-10 win.
 
Set two was more closely contested as it was the Braves that used a 5-0 run early on to lead 6-1. Eastern trailed by three, 15-12, when they went on a 4-0 run that included a service ace from MaKenna Davis to take a 16-15 lead. Tied 17-17, EWU exploded for five straight points to gain its largest advantage of the set, 22-17. Alcorn State wouldn't back down, as they only trailed by three but the Eagles closed on a 2-1 run to win 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead.
 
A 9-0 run helped the Eagles jump out to a 10-2 lead in the decisive third set. Eastern kept its momentum and used a 7-0 run to pull ahead 19-4. Alcorn State fought off match point twice, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles cruised to a 25-10 set three victory. They swung at a .391 clip with 10 kills and one error on 23 attempts during the final frame that helped lift them over the Braves, 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: The Eagles are now 8-3 on the season while Alcorn State falls to 2-6. This is the first meeting between the two programs as well as Eastern Washington's first time facing a program from the Southland Conference.
 
TOP PERFORMERS: Alexandra Espinosa led the way with eight kills, followed by Kennedy Kaminsky who had six and Catelyn Linke who had five. Kaitlin Sugai led the team in hitting with a career-best .625 (5k-0e-8ta) clip.
 
Puaoolelagi Sao served up a team-high three aces while Grace Nelson added two.
 
Kamille Langford and Kaminsky were mainstays at the net, recording five and four blocks, respectively. Samantha Boever paced Eastern with 25 assists, while Sao and Linke each had seven digs.
 
As a team, the Eagles hit at a blazing .346 for a new season high. They had 32 kills on 78 attempts and only five errors in the three-set match.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington swung at a .346 clip and limited the Braves to .000. Eastern only had five errors while Alcorn State had 23. Additionally, EWU put up nine total team blocks while ASU had nil. Eastern also had seven service aces to the Braves' one.
 
WHAT IT MEANS: With just one match remaining in nonconference play, the Eagles have a Big Sky Conference best eight wins. Their 8-3 record is the best start through 11 matches since 2002. Additionally, this is the second-straight three set sweep for the Eagles who now move to 3-2 this season in three-set matches. The Eagles have won nine out of their last 10 sets.
 
UP NEXT: The final match of the Cardinal Classic, and the final nonconference match of the season, takes place tomorrow morning when the Eagles face the hosts Incarnate Word at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time.