TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
CHENEY, Wash. – With a share of first place in the conference standings two weeks in, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team is headed East for the Pirate Invitational this Thursday and Friday (Sept. 6-7) in Greenville, N.C. The Eagles take on the hosts East Carolina on Thursday for a 4 p.m. Pacific time match up. On Friday, EWU plays two beginning with Charlotte at 6 a.m. PT and concluding with Gardner-Webb at 1 p.m.
HOW TO WATCH: Only Eastern's matchup against the Pirates on Thursday will be
live streamed. No neutral site matchups will be streamed or televised, but
live stats are available for all three contests.
GET TO KNOW THE EAGLES: Eastern Washington heads into the week with a 5-2 overall record, tying them with Northern Arizona for first place in the Big Sky Conference standings. They are off to their best start since 2005 and have only been 5-2 through its first seven matches four times in program history.
Offensively, the Eagles are led by freshman
Kennedy Kaminsky who has totaled 70 kills on the season, averaging 2.59 per set. Additionally, Kaminsky has been swinging at a .273 clip so far this season (70k-20e-183ta).
Samantha Boever paces Eastern's offense with an average of 9.52 assists per set. Boever has 257 total assists which ranks her 33
rd in the nation.
MaKenna Davis has 11 service aces and only two service errors, which is 47
th across Division I currently.
Defensively, sophomore
Catelyn Linke has 100 digs on the season and is averaging 3.70/set. She's followed
Puaoolelagi Sao who averages 3.35 digs/set.
Kamille Langford,
Taylor Larsen and Kaminsky lead Eastern at the net with 19 and 18 total blocks, respectively.
As a team, EWU has an attack percentage of .180 and average 12.1 kills per set. They limit their opponents to a .187 hitting percentage. Their 17.9 digs per set ranks 17
th nationally. They also ranked in the top-100 across Division I in win-loss percentage (79
th, .714), assists (85
th, 298), attacks per set (16
th, 39.04), total digs (16
th, 484), total kills (70
th, 326), total service aces (57
th, 40) and total attacks (19
th, 1,054).
LAST TIME OUT: The Eagles are coming off of a 2-2 weekend (Aug. 30 – Sept. 1) at the UND Classic where they lost to North Dakota (3-0) and Western Carolina (3-1) but topped Louisiana Tech twice, both by scores of 3-1.
Samantha Boever was named to the All-Tournament team. On the weekend, she started in all four matches, appearing in 15 sets. She accumulated 142 assists, for an average of 9.47/set. Additionally, she also tallied 35 digs (2.33/set). In the final match against LA Tech, she garnered her third double-double of the season (42a-10d). She also had six kills on 14 attempts with no errors for a hitting percentage of .429 while adding three blocks and one ace over four matches.
Catelyn Linke set a new career-high in kills against Western Carolina with 19.
Kennedy Kaminsky posted a new career-best 14 kills to lead the team in its second match against LA Tech along with
Kamille Langford who had 12. Additionally,
Puaoolelagi Sao set a career-high 23 digs against Western Carolina.
GET TO KNOW THE PIRATES: East Carolina is 5-2 on the season and are currently riding a three-match win streak, having yet to play a match on its home court this season.
The Pirates have four players that are averaging over two kills per set, led by Natalie Tyson with 2.75/set. As a team, ECU holds its opponents to just a .144 hitting percentage which is 30
th in the nation. They also rank 35
th in Division I in digs per set with 17.00, 88
th in aces per set with 1.57 and 93
rd in total aces with 36.
SERIES HISTORY: This is the first all-time meeting between the two programs. Eastern is 6-2 all-time against programs from the American Conference.
GET TO KNOW THE 49ers: The Eagles will have a tall task ahead of them in Charlotte, as the 49ers rank first in the nation in total blocks (93) and total digs (587) while ranking second in total assists with 414. They are limiting their opponents to a .159 hitting percentage and are 5-4 on the year with a recent loss at N.C. State.
The 49ers also boast on of the best liberos in the country in Yumi Garcia who is the nation's leader in total digs with 235 and ranks third in digs per set with an average of 6.35. Additionally, Reeana Richardson ranks third in Division I in total kills with 136, fifth in total attacks (344) and second in points (148.0). Tyra Galloway and Jocelyn Stoner rank second and fourth, respectively, across Division I in total blocks. Nya Steele is ninth in the nation with 299 total assists.
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Washington and Charlotte have faced each other one time in program history, last season on Sept. 8 where they fell 3-0.
GET TO KNOW THE BULLDOGS: Gardner-Webb has an overall record of 3-3 and are currently on a two-match losing streak. Hannah Donaldson is a force at the net for the Bulldogs as she ranks eighth in the nation with 38 blocks and 28
th with 1.46 blocks per set. As a team, GWU is 81
st in the nation in total blocks with 55. As a team, they are swinging .160 but limiting their opponents to a clip of .162.
SERIES HISTORY: Friday will mark the first all-time meeting against the two squads. Eastern is 2-1 all-time against programs from the Big South Conference.
UP NEXT: The Eagles have one more tournament remaining before beginning conference play. Eastern heads to Texas for the Cardinal Classic on Sept. 14-15. They take on Alcorn State on Friday at 5 p.m. PT and take on the hosts, Incarnate Word, on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. PT.
