GREELEY, Colo. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team faced Northern Colorado on the road Friday morning (Oct. 11) where the fell by a score of 3-0 (12-25, 15-25, 20-25).
 
"I thought we got off to a slow start today. It was our first afternoon game in quite a while. We did some nice things along the stretch and started hitting better in the third set. We started serving tougher in the third set and did things to open up our offense and our block, but we were definitely slow out of the gate," said head coach Leslie-Flores Cloud.
 
The Bears opened up an 11-2 lead over the Eagles and never looked back in the first set, taking a 25-12 decision and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Trailing 6-4 in the second set, an Ashlyn Blotzer service ace capped a 3-0 run for the Eagles who took their first lead of the day, 7-6. Both teams exchanged points and Eastern used a quick 3-1 run to even the set at 12-12. A block by Blotzer and Ana Paula Zandona put the Eagles back within a point, 15-14. From there, Northern Colorado went on a 10-1 run to close the set, taking set two 25-15 and 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Eastern Washington found themselves down 14-6 in the third set when a Bear error sparked a 5-0 run for the Eagles who cut the deficit to three points, 14-11. The run was highlighted by a service ace from MaKenna Davis. Back-to-back kills from Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala and Blotzer put the Eagles within two points, 15-13.
 
Later in the set, the Eagles were down 21-16 when Nicoletta Capizzi hammered down a kill then teamed up with Keala for a block and followed it with another kill. Capizzi's quick run helped the Eagles score four-straight points to come within a point late in the set, 21-20. However, it was all Northern Colorado from there as they scored the final four points to take the 25-20 decision and the match 3-0.
 
"We are relentless and we're not going to give up and were able to put some blocks together to defend our serve," Flores-Cloud said on her team's play in the third set. "Our serve-receive passing was shaky today as well but we got it ironed out in the third set."
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: The Eagles drop to 2-16 overall and 0-6 in conference play while Northern Colorado improves to 11-6 and 5-0.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala led the team with five kills and also had two blocks. Ashlyn Blotzer and Nicoletta Capizzi followed with four kills and also had two blocks each.
 
Catelyn Linke led the way with 10 digs while Ana Paula Zandona had 14 assists. Both Blotzer and MaKenna Davis had a service ace.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington had 19 kills on 96 total attempts, while the Bears had 44 on 108 attempts.
 
Both teams were even with five blocks each. UNC had seven aces to Eastern's two and 53 digs to EWU's 35.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington returns to Reese Court for a pair of matches next week, beginning with Southern Utah on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 6:05 p.m. A matchup with Northern Arizona is set for Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2:05 p.m.
 
All regular season home matches are complimentary to the public and will be streamed live on Pluto TV Ch. 534.