OGDEN, Utah – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team battled Weber State for the second day in a row (Jan. 23) in Ogden, Utah. The Eagles had two players earn double-doubles and three reach double-digit kills while hitting at a .255 clip as a team, but fell in four sets (20-25, 25-21, 17-25, 22-25).
 
Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala and Katie Fleck each had 15 kills, while Sage Brustad followed closely with 12. Keala also earned a double-double with a career-best 16 digs, joining Lindsey Russell who had 50 assists and 13 digs in her first career start.
 
Catelyn Linke totaled 21 digs and moved into 10^th all-time in EWU history for career digs with 978 total.
 
"That was a phenomenal game that could've gone either way. Ehu jumped in and played six rotations, which is huge for us. She has been a sophomore that we have definitely talked about playing six rotations, and she did that tonight and did a wonderful job. Katie Fleck hitting .400 as a pin is also incredible," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Lindsey Russell came in and set a great offense for us tonight and she's only been in our gym for a few weeks and is still working on connections with her hitters and she did a good job of throwing Weber's defense off."
 
Trailing 11-9 in the first set, Fleck came up with a kill followed by back-to-back points from Keala to take a 12-11 lead. Weber State would answer back, and built a 21-16 lead. The Eagles wouldn't back down, as a 4-0 spurt that included two kills and a block from Renata Lopez Morales put the Eagles within a point, 21-20. The surge came up short though, as the Wildcats claimed the final four points to take set one, 25-20.
 
EWU's best set came in the second frame as they hit .324 with 16 kills and five errors of 34 total attempts. Eastern Washington worked to build a 12-7 lead, but the sides would go point-for-point with neither team able to lead by more than two points. That was until a 3-0 run by the Eagles helped them pull ahead 22-18. Weber State would threaten and made it a 23-21 match, but back-to-back kills from Brustad helped EWU claim the second set, 25-21, and even the match.
 
EWU held a 14-13 lead in the third set when Weber State exploded on an 8-0 run to lead 21-14 and they claimed the set 25-17.
 
Set four was closely contested with each side trading points to wind up in a 13-13 tie. Weber State broke away following a 5-0 run to lead 18-13, but EWU responded right away thanks to Fleck who delivered two kills and a block for a 3-0 run to come within two points, 18-16. Down 24-20, Eastern Washington fought off set point twice once again following kills from Brustad and Fleck, but the Wildcats had the final say and won set four 25-22 and the match 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: This marked the first weekend of action for both teams, as Eastern Washington falls to 0-2 overall and in Big Sky play, while Weber State is 2-0.
 
TOP-PERFORMANCES: Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala tied a career-high 15 kills to go with a career-best 16 digs for her first career double-double. She hit .355 on the night with only four errors on 31 attempts.
 
Freshman Katie Fleck also collected 15 kills for a new career best. She swung at a .400 clip with only three errors on 30 attempts.
 
Sage Brustad hit at a .348 clip with 12 kills on 23 attempts and only four errors. She also had a service ace and was one dig short of a double-double with nine.
 
Catelyn Linke turned in her 16^th career match with over 20 digs, collecting 21 total in addition to a service ace.
 
Lindsey Russell was the other Eagle to earn a double-double in her first career start at Eastern Washington. She dished out 50 assists and earned 13 digs to go with three blocks.
 
Renata Lopez Morales had eight kills and led the team with four blocks.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: After hitting just .081 in yesterday's match, the Eagles made great strides tonight, hitting at a .255 clip with 58 kills on 145 attempts and only 21 errors.
 
Weber State swung .253 with 55 kills and 16 errors on 154 total attempts.
 
The Eagles bested the Wildcats in nearly every other statistical category as well including blocks (7-6), assists (56-50) and digs (69-58).
 
Weber State served up nine aces while Eastern only had two. Both teams had eight service errors.
 
MAKING HISTORY: After recording 21 digs tonight, Catelyn Linke moved in to 10^th all-time on Eastern Washington's all-time digs list. The senior now has 978 digs and needs seven more to move into ninth place. Additionally, 22 more digs will make her just the ninth member of EWU's 1,000 digs club.
 
"Congratulations to Catelyn. We would not be where we are today as a program without her. She is a great leader and she continues to get better and better and move into roles that we ask her to," added Flores-Cloud. "Tonight, we asked her to serve-receive nearly half the court, and she did that. We put her in middle back which is different for most liberos, but we knew she could dig a ton of balls there. She led us in digs overall and we're better because of it."
 
Puaoolelagi Sao continues to climb up in the record books as well. After recording five digs this evening, she now has 784 in her career.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington heads back home for five-straight home matches, beginning with a non-conference matchup against Northwest Nazarene on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. Pacific time.