PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team dropped its opening match of the GCU Invitational to the hosts Grand Canyon by a score of 3-0 (14-25, 14-25, 17-25) on Friday (Sept. 13) evening. The Eagles drop to 2-6 with the loss while the Antelopes improve to 6-1.

"It was good for us to play in an arena with a great crowd and get some jitters out," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "I'm really looking forward to learning from this experience and moving on."
 
Eastern Washington hung with the Antelopes through the early parts of set one, but GCU used a 7-1 run to jump ahead 9-3. From there, the Eagles would play catchup as Grand Canyon eventually built a 24-12 lead. Facing set point, MaKenna Davis came up with a kill before Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala and Ashlyn Blotzer teamed up for a block, but it wasn't enough as they fell 25-14 and GCU took a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Grand Canyon jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second set and never looked back. Once again facing set point, the Eagles proved they would not go away quietly. A kill from Nicoletta Capizzi and a service ace from Puaoolelagi Sao fought off set point twice before Eastern Washington dropped the second set 25-14 and went down 2-0 in the match.
 
Things started positively for the Eagles in the crucial third set as they used a 4-0 run to take a 4-1 lead. Grand Canyon then responded with an 11-1 run to break away 12-5. Trailing 20-11, a solo block from Keala followed by a service ace gave Eastern a quick spark and they fired off four-straight points to trim the deficit to five, 20-15. After GCU pulled away with a 3-0 run, back-to-back kills from Lopez Morales and Davis kept the Eagles alive, 23-17. The Antelopes then used two quick points to take the third and final set 25-17 and the match 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington drops its fourth-straight match to move to 2-6 on the year. Grand Canyon won its third-straight to move to 6-1.
 
Eastern Washington now trails the all-time series, 2-0.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Four Eagles led the team with four kills in MaKenna Davis, Ashlyn Blotzer, Nicoletta Capizzi and Renata Lopez Morales. Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala had three.
 
Both ShaRae Niu and Ana Paula Zandona split the setting duties and had seven assists each. Puaoolelagi Sao led the way with 11 digs and also had a service ace.
 
Capizzi led the team with three blocks while Blotzer and Keala also collected an ace.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles struggled offensively, hitting .034 with 20 kills and 17 errors on 89 attempts. The Antelopes swung .318 with 39 kills and only 12 errors on 85 attempts.
 
Eastern Washington was able to out-block GCU, 5-to-4. Grand Canyon had eight service aces to EWU's three.
 
UP NEXT: The Grand Canyon Invitational continues tomorrow (Sept. 14) at 10 a.m. against San Diego State before concluding with a clash against UC Riverside at 4:30 p.m.
 
Neither match will be streamed, but live stats are available at EWUStats.com.