CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team fell to Portland State tonight (Sept. 27) in three sets (25-19, 25-18, 25-22) at Reese Court.
 
"I wish we would've had more offense at the serving line. I felt like we got in rhythm in the third set and became more aggressive, as all three of our aces came in the last set. We talk a lot about the serving piece every single day and I thought that was missing tonight," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "I would've also liked to see us have a little more energy especially after the really good things we did last night."
 
The two sides traded points for the beginning portions of the opening set. Portland State held a slight 11-10 lead when the Vikings went on a 6-2 scoring run to pull ahead, 17-12. The Eagles then responded with a 4-1 run that included two kills from Nicoletta Capizzi and one from Catelyn Linke and ShaRae Niu to cut their deficit to two points, 18-16. From there, Portland State found momentum and outscored the Eagles 7-3 down the stretch to take a 25-19 set one victory and 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Portland State pulled ahead to lead 12-8 in the second set before Eastern Washington responded with a 4-1 run to cut their lead down to just a point, 13-12. Later, PSU would pull ahead before Hailee Etter contributed two kills to put the Eagles back within reach, 18-15. However, EWU could not find much momentum as Portland State charged ahead and took the 25-18 set two victory to lead 2-0.
 
The third set was closely contested as it saw seven ties and three lead changes. Eastern Washington trailed 6-5 when they used a 4-0 run, that included two aces from Linke, to pull ahead 9-6. Portland State would tie the match 9-9 before a kill from Capizzi and an ace from Puaoolelagi Sao put them back up, 11-9.
 
Eastern Washington looked strong, as a 3-0 run that was sparked by two kills from Leah McAdams stretched the lead to 17-13. Portland State would not go away quietly, exploding for a 6-1 run later in the set to take a 20-19 lead. The lead moved to 22-20 when a solo block from Kamille Langford put Eastern back within a point, however, the Vikings scored three of the last four points to win 25-22 and took the match 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington drops to 2-12 on the season and 0-2 in Big Sky Conference play. Portland State improves to 5-8 overall with a 1-1 mark in the conference.
 
Portland State now leads the all-time series, 30-27.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Catelyn Linke and Nicoletta Capizzi led the Eagles with nine kills each. Linke hit .156 with four errors on 32 attacks while Capizzi swung .130 with six errors on 23 tries.
 
Linke also led the Eagles with two service aces and had 10 digs. Puaoolelagi Sao led the team with 13 digs and also had an assist.
 
ShaRae Niu led the team in assists for the second-straight game with 16, followed by Ana Paula Zandona who had 15.
 
Six Eagles recorded one block, with Kamille Langford and Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala recording one solo.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles hit .137 with 40 kills and 23 errors on 124 attempts. Portland State only had 31 kills, but the Vikings also only committed eight errors on 105 attempts to hit .219 on the night.
 
Portland State had five aces to Eastern's four and also out-blocked the Eagles, 5-to-4. Eastern Washington had 49 digs to PSU's 44.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington hits the road for more Big Sky Conference play next week, beginning with a match at Montana on Oct. 3 before travelling to Bozeman to take on Montana State on Oct. 5.