CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team played host to Weber State this afternoon (Oct. 26) at Reese Court where they fell 3-1 (11-25, 25-19, 22-25, 13-25).
 
"Set four was a disappointment for us, but we were really aggressive at the service line in set two which helped us. That's a really good Weber State team," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We sided-out at sixty-six percent, which is a win in most Big Sky matches. We did some nice things that I'm proud of, but you can tell that Weber State has more experience than us."
 
Weber State had all the momentum in the opening set and won 25-11 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The momentum shifted and it was Eastern Washington who opened an 8-4 lead over the Wildcats in set two. Weber State would take a quick 10-9 advantage before the Eagles rattled off three-straight points to lead 12-10. Later in the set, another 3-0 run that was highlighted by back-to-back service aces and a kill from Ashlyn Blotzer, gave the Eagles an 18-13 lead that then stretched to 20-14. WSU would get within four points, 22-18, but two blocks from Renata Lopez Morales helped the Eagles close set two 25-19 and even the match 1-1.
 
Set three was also close as the set saw seven ties in all. Eastern Washington broke away first after back-to-back kills and a block from Blotzer helped the Eagles lead 14-10. Weber State eventually fought back and evened the set, 16-16. Another tie of 20-20 was broken by three-straight points from the Widlcats to inch ahead 23-20. Facing set point, MaKenna Davis came up with a kill but the Eagles fell short, dropping set three 25-22 to fall behind 2-1.
 
Using momentum from the third set, Weber State opened a 9-0 lead over the Eagles. Eastern Washington had to play catchup the entire set and ended up falling 25-13 and 3-1 in the match.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington falls to 4-18 overall and 2-8 in Big Sky Conference play while Weber State improves to 15-6 and 6-4.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the Eagles with 16 kills and swung .343 on the night with only four errors on 35 attempts. She also paced Eastern with two aces and two blocks.
 
MaKenna Davis was the other Eagle to notch double-digit kills, totaling 13 on .417 hitting.
 
Catleyn Linke led the team in digs with 25 while Puaoolelagi Sao had 14.
 
Ana Paula Zandona dished out 43 assists to lead the team.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington hit .152 (48k-25e-151ta) to Weber State's .314 (52k-9e-137ta).
 
Eastern was just edged in kills, 48-to-52, and digs, 65-64. The Eagles were out-blocked 10-to-4 and Weber State had 10 aces to Eastern's four.
 
UP NEXT: The second half of Big Sky Conference play takes place at Portland State on Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. before the Eagles travel to Sacramento State for a 1 p.m. matchup on Nov. 2.