CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team concluded the 2019 season this afternoon (Nov. 23) with a 3-1 (34-36, 21-25, 25-20, 25-27) loss in a battle at Southern Utah.
 
"We played a nice match against a team with a lot of experience and unfortunately they edged us out. We had some great offense from our outsides in MaKenna Davis and Renata Lopez Morales and we also saw Ana Paula Zandona, Catelyn Linke and ShaRae Niu have good performances," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "I want this team to know that we have a lot to build on for next season. Communication and learning to keep a lead are at the forefront. I am proud of our relentless effort in every point and I want that to continue next season."
 
The Eagles and Thunderbirds started off the afternoon with a first set that saw 21 ties and 10 lead changes. It ultimately would end in Southern Utah's favor, 36-34. The Thunderbirds used a 5-0 run to lead 12-8 only to have Eastern Washington respond with a 6-0 run to pull back ahead 14-12.
 
The two teams exchanged runs and Eastern Washington eventually found themselves with a 24-22 lead but couldn't close it out. From there, the two teams saw 10 ties from the score reaching 25-25 and 34-34. Southern Utah was able to get the last say with a service ace to gut out the set one victory.
 
In the second set, Eastern Washington led 10-8 before the Thunderbirds pulled ahead 12-10. The lead was brief as Eastern Washington scored three straight to retake the 14-13 lead. After the two teams exchanged runs down the stretch of the second set, EWU found themselves up 19-18 before the Thunderbirds cracked off five-straight points to lead 23-19 and eventually claimed the 25-21 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Eastern Washington fought back in the third set to stay alive as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead that stretched to 9-2. It was all Eagles from there as a block by Ashlyn Blotzer and MaKenna Davis extended the lead to 19-12. Southern Utah would threaten with a 3-0 run to cut its deficit to 23-19, but the Eagles held on to win 25-20. It would prove to be Eastern's best set of the night as they hit .312 with 14 kills and only four errors while siding-out at 71 percent.
 
In set four, Eastern Washington trailed 13-8 when Davis came up with a kill and followed it with three-straight service aces. The run included six-straight points in all as the Eagles led 14-13. Eastern Washington continued to lead 21-18 before Southern Utah tied it 22-22. The Eagles then earned set point and led 24-22 only to have the Thunderbirds tie it up and a set would go to extra points for the second time that afternoon.
 
The Eagles had set point again at 25-24, but the Thunderbirds fired off three-straight points to win 27-25 and take the match 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, the Eagles end their season with a 6-24 overall record and a 4-14 mark in Big Sky Conference play.
 
Southern Utah, who qualified for the 2019 Big Sky Conference Tournament, improves to 15-15 and 9-10.
 
The two squads split the regular season meetings, as Eastern won 3-2 back on Oct. 17 in Cheney.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: MaKenna Davis led the team with a career-high 19 kills and also hit .273 on the afternoon while leading the team with three service aces and four blocks.
 
Renata Lopez Morales was the other Eagle in double figures with a career-best 16 kills. She hit .325 with only three errors on 40 attempts and a service ace.
 
Catelyn Linke led the team with 22 digs, followed by ShaRae Niu who had a career-best 18. Two other Eagles in Ana Paula Zandona and Puaoolelagi Sao also had double-digit digs with 13 each.
 
Zandona collected her sixth double-double of the season as she also led the Eagles with 48 assists.
 
Hailee Etter and Ashlyn Blotzer led the team with four blocks while Zandona and Nicoletta Capizzi had three.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington hit .222 on the night with a season-high 62 kills and only 22 errors on 180 attempts. Southern Utah swung .250 with 74 kills and 25 errors on 196 attempts.
 
The Eagles had the edge in service aces with five compared to SUU's four, and were just edged in blocks as EWU had 11 to Southern Utah's 12.
 
Eastern Washington out-dug the Thunderbirds, 86 to 84.