CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team hosted Montana State at Reese Court on Thursday evening (Nov. 7). The Eagles were able to claim a set, but fell 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-25).
 
"We needed to step up a little bit more tonight. We had the opportunity to seize the moment and we didn't. We're better and train harder than we showed in set four and I think we let a few things define us that shouldn't have," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We're a young team and these are growing pains, but this won't define us as a team. We'll come out tomorrow and play excellent volleyball against a great Montana team."
 
The match was close from the start, as the first set saw four ties and two lead changes. Eastern Washington led 4-1 and then extended the lead to 7-3 before MSU tied the set at 8-all. Both teams would exchange points and Eastern had the 12-10 advantage when the Bobcats broke away on a 5-0 run to lead 15-12. It was all Montana State from there, as they clinched the final four points to take set one 25-17 and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in set two and had total command from there as they never trailed. Eastern Washington would collect 11 kills and only five hitting errors throughout the set. EWU had a comfortable 19-13 lead when MSU threatened with five-straight points to cut the lead to one, 19-18. Ashlyn Blotzer then hammered down a kill and it sparked the offense to close the set on a 6-3 run. Nicoletta Capizzi came up with the final kill and the Eagles evened the match with a 25-20 victory.
 
Montana State responded in the third set by jumping out to an 11-6 lead. The Eagles slowly chipped away, and down 19-16, Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala hammered down back-to-back kills and the Eagles were off on a 5-0 run to lead 21-19. The spurt also included a kill from Málie McClure and Capizzi and an ace from MaKenna Davis.
 
After the run, MSU had one of their own, firing off five-straight to retake the 24-21 advantage. Facing set point, a kill from Keala and a Bobcat attack error kept Eastern alive, but Montana State found the final point and edged the Eagles, 25-23, to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Eastern kept the fourth set close with four ties in all. Knotted up at 9-9, Montana State broke away on a 5-0 run and never looked back as they were able to pull out the 25-15 set four victory and claimed the match, 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington moves to 5-20 on the season and 3-10 in Big Sky Conference play while Montana State improves to 11-11 and 7-6.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala led the team with 10 kills. The freshman swung .211 on the night with only two attack errors and also had two blocks.
 
MaKenna Davis had eight kills, hitting .316 on the evening, and had the team's lone service ace.
 
Nicoletta Capizzi led the team with three blocks and had seven kills.
 
Catelyn Linke had 16 digs while Ana Paula Zandona dished out 37 assists.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles hit .197 on the night with 41 kills and 15 errors on 132 attempts. Montana State had 25 errors, but also collected 61 kills on 148 tries to swing .243.
 
Eastern Washington out-blocked the Bobcats five-to-six, but only had one ace to their eight.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington is back at it tomorrow night (Nov. 8) when they host Montana at Reese Court at 6:05 p.m. The match will be streamed on Pluto TV Ch. 534 and is admission is complimentary to the public.