CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team hosted Sacramento State for its Big Sky Conference and home opener tonight at Reese Court (Sept. 26). The Eagles went down 2-0 before battling back, but fell 3-1 (14-25, 18-25, 25-21, 13-25).
 
"That's a really, really, good Sacramento State team. We were slow out of the gates and I think once we found some rhythm we were able to show how good we can be," said head coach Leslie-Flores Cloud.
 
The Hornets built a 9-4 lead to open the first set when Ashlyn Blotzer fired off three-straight kills to put Eastern back with two points. Sacramento State then responded with another 4-0 run to lead 13-7 and cruised ahead from there for a 25-14 set one victory and 1-0 lead in the match.
 
A kill by Hailee Etter helped the Eagles lead 7-5 to open the second set, but Sacramento State exploded for nine-straight points to lead 14-7. The teams would exchange points with Eastern chipping away at its deficit. Trailing 22-15 ShaRae Niu and Blotzer fired off consecutive kills before the Hornets got the final say and took set two, 25-18, and led 2-0 in the match.
 
With the match tied 10-10, Eastern Washington took advantage of three-straight Hornet errors and kills from Blotzer and Leah McAdams to pull ahead 15-11. Sacramento State worked and evened the score, 17-17, before Eastern Washington fired off five-straight points, capped by two kills from Nicoletta Capizzi to lead 22-17. The Hornets threatened with back-to-back kills, but Eastern took advantage of consecutive Hornet errors to stay alive and take set three, 25-21, to cut SAC's lead to 2-1.
 
Trailing 6-4, Eastern Washington went on a 4-0 run to take an 8-6 lead in set four. Back-to-back kills from Catelyn Linke gave the Eagles a 10-8 lead, but the Hornets responded with a 5-0 run to lead 13-10. The Hornets never looked back and built their lead to 19-11 before taking set four 25-13 and the set 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington falls to 2-11 on the season and 0-1 in Big Sky play. Sacramento State improves to 6-8 and 1-0 in conference.
 
The Eagles now trail the all-time series 17-37 and are 12-13 all-time against the Hornets at Reese Court.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the Eagles with eight kills and four blocks, followed by Nicoletta Capizzi who had seven kills.
 
Puaoolelagi Sao had 15 digs, followed by Catelyn Linke and ShaRae Niu who each had eight. Renata Lopez Morales had Eastern's lone ace.
 
ShaRae Niu led the team with 14 assists while Ana Paula Zandona was close behind with 12.
 
Leah McAdams turned in a career-high four kills and had two blocks.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Sacramento State swung .247 with 55 kills and 19 errors on 146 total attempts. Eastern Washington had 36 total kills.
 
The Hornets had four aces to Eastern's one and 64 digs to Eastern's 55. The Eagles were also out-blocked, 8-to-5.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles have a quick turnaround and host Portland State tomorrow night (Sept. 27) at 7:05 p.m. at Reese Court.
 
The Vikings are 4-8 after opening Big Sky play with 3-0 loss at Idaho tonight.
 
The game will be broadcast for free on Pluto TV Channel 534 and WatchBigSky.com with live stats available on EWUStats.com.
 
MORE FROM FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On Moving on to Face Portland State Tomorrow: "We have to remember that we did some good things tonight. Our goal is to be in the middle of the pack of the Big Sky by siding-out at 57 percent. When we're winning games, that's what we're doing. We were effective on a lot of things, but we ran out of gas. We need to take a deep breath, go to sleep and reload. We have the ability to play really good Eagle volleyball, that's what we're looking for and we're always striving for that. Portland State tomorrow night will be a great matchup and we're excited we get another opportunity to play and another chance to face adversity and get better."