PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team closed the GCU Invitational with a 3-0 (21-25, 18-25, 23-25) loss to UC Riverside today (Sept. 14).
 
"Alisha Straw led us in kills from the back row and that was awesome to see and have her experience, but we couldn't finish games," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "UC Riverside had more kills than us in each set and did better than we did offensively. When push came to shove, they put balls away. We've been working on controlling our controllables, and one of those is communication. We communicated and listened at a high-level against San Diego State, we just need to continue to do that when adversity hits."  
 
Eastern Washington trailed 7-5 early on when they used a 4-0 run to pull ahead 9-7. After the teams exchanged 3-0 runs, the Eagles were back up by two, 13-11. Both sides worked to pull away and with the Eagles holding a 20-19 advantage, the Highlanders used three-straight kills to retake a 22-20 lead. A UCR error kept Eastern Washington alive, but UC Riverside scored three-straight points to take a 25-21 set one decision and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Eagles used a 4-0 run to lead 5-3 early, but couldn't hold on to the advantage. Eventually, the Highlanders built a 20-10 lead. Eastern Washington was able to cut the lead to 22-16, and facing set point Renata Lopez Morales and Leah McAdams hammered down kills, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles dropped set three, 25-18 and fell behind 2-0 in the match.
 
Set three was a competitive one as the teams exchanged points until Eastern Washington pulled ahead 9-6 and then worked to hold a 13-9 advantage. Once UCR pulled ahead with a 4-0 run to lead 15-14, the Eagles responded again with a 5-0 run to lead 19-15. The run was highlighted by back-to-back aces from MaKenna Davis and consecutive kills from Alisha Straw.
 
The Highlanders then responded once more with four-straight points to tie the set 19-19. The Eagles stayed collected with three-straight points to go back up 22-19. However, they were not able to keep the Highlanders away as they once again fired off four-straight points to lead 23-22. A kill from Ashlyn Blotzer tied the set, 23-23, but UCR got the final say with two final points. The Eagles dropped the third set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: The Eagles drop to 2-8 on the season while UC Riverside improves to 4-5.
 
The all-time series is now tied, 2-2.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Alisha Straw led the Eagles with five kills, followed by Ashlyn Blotzer who had four. Blotzer also had two service aces and four total blocks against her former team.
 
MaKenna Davis was the other Eagle with two service aces. Puaoolelagi Sao had 16 digs to lead the Eagles, followed by Renata Lopez Morales who had a career-high 14.
 
Ana Paula Zandona led the team with 14 assists.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington hit .074 percent on the night with 23 kills and 11 errors on 94 attempts. UC Riverside collected 40 kills and 20 errors on 125 attempts to hit .160.
 
Both sides were even in blocks with five each and the Eagles had 52 digs to UCR's 49.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Freshman Málie McClure was named to the GCU Invitational All-Tournament team. She averaged 1.8 kills and 1.2 digs per set while swinging .286 on the weekend. Against San Diego State, she led the team with a career-high 14 kills and was two digs short of a double-double.
 
UP NEXT: The final week of the preseason takes the Eagles to Grand Forks, N.D. for the UND Classic. Eastern Washington opens play against the hosts North Dakota on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. Pacific time. The following day, the Eagles take on Akron at 8 a.m. PT and Lamar at 3 p.m. PT to close non-conference play.