GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team opened the UND Classic today (Sept. 19) with a battle against the hosts North Dakota. The Eagles won two of the first three sets, but ended up falling 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 9-15).
 
EWU was paced by Ana Paula Zandona (44a-16d) and MaKenna Davis (10k-18) who each collected double doubles. Freshmen Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala and Nicoletta Capizzi led the Eagles in kills with 15 and 13, respectively.
 
"I thought MaKenna Davis played really well for us, she was strong. Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala also had a big night for us, she was doing some good things on the right side," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We were getting offense from multiple places which was nice to see because we haven't had that yet this season, but we didn't play to win."
 
Eastern Washington took the floor and immediately grabbed control of the first set, using a 4-0 run to lead 6-1 while forcing an early North Dakota timeout. The Eagles continued to pull ahead and used another 4-0 run, that included back-to-back kills from Ashlyn Blotzer, to lead 15-8 which resulted in another UND timeout.
 
Eastern held what seemed to be a comfortable 19-12 lead when the Fighting Hawks made it interesting, using an 8-1 scoring run to tie the set 20-20.
 
The Eagles would call for a timeout and found themselves tied 21-21 when they decided to end the set with a 4-0 run. Keala hammered down back-to-back kills and the Eagles claimed the first set, 25-21, and took a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Set two was tightly contested as the teams went point-for-point and found themselves locked in a 12-12 tie. It was Eastern Washington who broke away first with a 15-13 lead that later built to an 18-15 advantage.
 
The Fighting Hawks used a 4-0 run to take a 20-18 lead and force an Eastern Washington timeout. EWU cut the deficit to 22-21 after a block from Capizzi and Renata Lopez Morales, but UND closed on a 3-0 run to win 25-21 and even the match, 1-1.
 
Eastern Washington jumped out to a 4-1 lead to start the third set. Once things evened at 8-8, the Eagles broke away and built a lead. Zandona served back-to-back aces to put the Eagles ahead 13-9 and forced a UND timeout.
 
Later in the set, Hailee Etter collected three consecutive kills and Keala had an ace to help the Eagles garner their largest lead of the set, 21-14, after a 5-0 run from the Eagles.
 
The Fighting Hawks battled back, using five-straight points to cut the deficit to 21-19. Capizzi hammered down back-to-back kills to help put the Eagles back ahead, 23-19. Davis then collected two set-winning kills to win the set, 25-21, and EWU retook a 2-1 lead in the match.

Down 5-3 in the fourth set, Eastern Washington used a 4-0 run to lead 7-5 and forced an early North Dakota timeout. The teams would exchange runs, and with the match tied 13-13, the Eagles had a 4-0 spurt that gave them a 17-13 lead. UND battled back quickly, regaining a 19-17 advantage. It was then Eastern's turn to battle back as they tied the set 21-21 after two kills from Keala.
 
North Dakota reached set point first, and Capizzi and Davis fired off consecutive kills, but the Eagles were edged 25-23 and sent the match in to a fifth set.
 
Eastern could never find its footing in the fifth frame. Down 12-5, the Eagles fired off three straight points to force North Dakota to call a timeout. From there, the Fighting Hawks edged the Eagles and took set five 15-9 and the match, 3-2.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington drops to 2-9 on the season while North Dakota improves to 8-5.
 
The two teams met annually when the Fighting Hawks were a member of the Big Sky Conference, and Eastern now trails the all-time series 1-13. However, this is the first time in the last four outings that Eastern Washington has not been swept by UND.
 
The two squads now have three five-set matches between them, with North Dakota claiming all three.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: The Eagles had two players collect double-doubles in Ana Paula Zandona and MaKenna Davis. Zandona garnered a career-high in both assists and digs with 44 and 16, respectively, for the second double-double of her career. Davis totaled 10 kills and a season-high 18 digs for her third double-double of the season and the sixth of her career
 
Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala led the way with a career-high 15 kills, tied for the most for an Eagle this season. Nicoletta Capizzi was the other Eagle who reached double-digit kills with a career-best 13. She swung .233 with only six errors on 30 attempts.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer led the Eagles at the net with a career-best eight blocks. She had nine kills and swung .389.
 
Puaoolelagi Sao led the team in digs with 24 while Zandona and Keala each had two service aces. Alisha Straw and Hailee Etter also had double-digit digs with 12 and 10, respectively.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles were able to out-hit their opponent for the first time this season. They hit .194 with 55 kills and only 25 errors on 175 attempts. The Fighting Hawks swung .160 with 54 kills and 26 errors on 175 attempts.
 
Eastern Washington out-blocked UND 10-to-8, had 90 kills to their 88 and also had 53 assists to UND's 47. The Fighting Hawks collected 10 service aces while EWU had seven.
 
UP NEXT: The UND Classic concludes tomorrow (Sept. 20) with a single match against Akron at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time. The match also marks the final contest of non-conference play. Live stats for tomorrow's match are available HERE and the match will not be streamed.