POCATELLO, Idaho – On a historic night in Pocatello, the Eastern Washington volleyball team earned a three-set (25-19, 25-23, 29-27) victory over Idaho State on the road on Thursday evening (Oct. 24). The win marked Eastern's first victory against the Bengals in Pocatello since 2011 and snapped a nine-match losing streak.
 
Both MaKenna Davis and Ashlyn Blotzer notched double-digit kills with 12 while Renata Lopez Morales had 10. The Eagles put up eight blocks, four of which came from Blotzer. Catelyn Linke also had 21 digs.
 
"Tonight's win was a total team effort. We were focused on our scouting report and we executed on our side," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Renata Lopez Morales did a great job of finding ways to score. Nicoletta Capizzi was great from the service line and Catelyn Linke was relentless on picking up balls. Those are just three highlights, everyone did an amazing job at doing their jobs tonight."
 
The Eagles opened up a 7-4 lead before the Bengals came back on a 4-0 run to take an 8-7 advantage. Eastern Washington found themselves down 12-11 before a kill from Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala started a 6-0 run. MaKenna Davis served up back-to-back aces as the Eagles stormed ahead, 17-12. It was all Eastern from there, as they edged the Bengals 8-7 down the stretch to win the first set, 25-19, and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Eastern chipped away at a 6-3 deficit to tie the set 7-7 in set two. From there, the two teams went point-for-point. The Eagles held a slight 16-14 advantage when Nicoletta Capizzi hammered down a kill to spark a quick 3-0 run to put Eastern up 19-14.
 
Another kill from Capizzi gave the Eagles what felt like a comfortable 21-18 lead. However, the Bengals rattled off three-straight points to tie the set at 21-all. Eastern kept its composure and although ISU threatened, a kill from Davis facing set point gave EWU the 25-23 decision and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Eager to close things up and head back to Cheney, the Eagles opened an 8-6 lead only to have the Bengals respond and take a 10-9 advantage that later built to 13-10. That's when a kill from Capizzi sparked a 9-2 run to help EWU pull ahead, 19-15.
 
A kill from Ana Paula Zandona later in the set helped give the Eagles set point, 24-22, but Idaho State refused to crumble. The Bengals scored three-straight points to take a 25-24 lead.
 
Davis hammered down a kill to even the set, 25-25. The Bengals would respond before a kill from Lopez Morales tied the set once more, 26-26. From there, ISU retook a 27-26 lead. Ashlyn Blotzer came up with a kill, but it was the freshman, Lopez Morales, who came up big in the end with two final kills to give the Eagles a 29-27 set-three victory and its first sweep of the season.  
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Now winners of two of its last three matches, Eastern Washington improves to 2-7 in Big Sky Conference play and 4-17 overall. Idaho State falls to 6-15 overall and 3-6 in conference action.
 
The win marked Eastern's first victory in Pocatello since Oct. 21, 2011, which was also in three sets. The win snaps a nine-match losing streak to the Bengals, the first since Nov. 15, 2012. Eastern Washington now leads the all-time series 41-37.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: MaKenna Davis and Ashlyn Blotzer led the team with 12 kills. Davis had two service aces to pace the Eagles while Blotzer led with four blocks.
 
Ana Paula Zandona dished out a team-high 40 assists while Catelyn Linke garnered 21 digs.
 
Renata Lopez Morales had 10 kills to go with an ace and three blocks.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington only hit .186 (45k-19e-140ta) to Idaho State's .119 (38k-21e-143ta) but they out-blocked the Bengals 8-to-3.
 
Eastern had four aces to ISU's three, 44 assists to their 32 and 73 digs to their 64.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington returns home for a contest against Weber State on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 2:05 p.m. Pacific time at Reese Court.