GAME NOTES
CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team is preparing to host its lone non-conference match of the season this Wednesday (Jan. 27) at Reese Court. The Eagles welcome Division II member Northwest Nazarene for a 2:05 p.m. Pacific time first serve.
HOW TO WATCH: Wednesday's match will be streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1053. Live stats can be found on EWUStats.com with in-game updates and video highlights on Twitter, @EWUVB.
LAST TIME OUT: Eastern Washington opened the unique 2021 spring season at Weber State on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, dropping both matches by a score of 3-1 to start the season 0-2 (0-2 BSC).
EWU got off to a fast start and claimed the first set over Weber State in the Jan. 22 opener, but the Wildcats answered back to claim the next three. Five Eagles made their debuts, including
Maya McClellan who led the team with 11 kills while veterans
Catelyn Linke and
Puaoolelagi Sao notched 14 and 10 digs, respectively.
The Eagles also fell 3-1 on Jan. 23, but made significant strides in a less than 24 hour turn-around. Two Eagles earned double-doubles in sophomore
Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala with a career-high 15 kills and 16 digs.
Lindsey Russell made her first career start for EWU and garnered 50 assists and 13 digs. Additionally, a pair of freshmen in
Katie Fleck (15) and
Sage Brustad (12) earned double-digit kills. Linke collected 21 digs and moved into 10
th place on EWU's all-time dig list with 978.
In game two, the Eagles bested the Wildcats in nearly every statistical category including kills (58-55), hitting percentage (.255-.253), blocks (7-6), assists (56-50) and digs (69-58).
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Through two matches in the young season, the Eagles have three players who average over two kills per set. Keala leads the way with 3.75, while
Katie Fleck (2.75/set) and
Maya McClellan (2.17/set) follow close behind. Fleck has 22 total to lead the team.
Lindsey Russell is averaging 12.00 assists per set and four different players have recorded a service ace.
Defensively,
Catelyn Linke is the team's dig leader with 4.38 per contest and
Renata Lopez Morales averages 1.00 digs per set with eight total.
As a team, the Eagles hit at a .175 clip with 12.0 kills per set. They add 11.38 assists, 0.5 service aces, 13.75 digs and 1.88 blocks per set.
LINKE KEEPS CLIMBING: After recording 21 digs on Jan. 23 at Weber State,
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 and 55 from eighth. Additionally, 22 more digs will make her just the ninth member of EWU's 1,000 digs club.
She has 16 games with 20-or-more digs in her career, which is the fifth-most in EWU history.
Her current career average is 3.69/set which is currently fourth all-time.
A LOOK AT THE NIGHTHAWKS: Northwest Nazarene is located in Nampa, Idaho. The Nighthawks compete at the Division II level in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).
Wednesday marks the first match of the season for NNU, who finished 13-14 overall last year with a 9-11 mark in GNAC play.
The Nighthawks return redshirt-junior Brooke Foster who earned First Team All-GNAC honors after ranking second in the conference in kills per set (3.62) and kills (377). Foster is a transfer from Montana who also earned AVCA West Region Honorable Mention honors.
NNU is coached by Doug English who is in his eighth season at the helm.
Eastern Washington and Northwest Nazarene have never played each other. It's the first non-conference match that Eastern has hosted since Sept. 17, 2015 when the Eagles beat Corban 3-0.
UP NEXT: Wednesday's match begins a stretch of five-straight home matches at Reese Court. It's back to Big Sky Conference play on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 when the Eagles host Northern Colorado, and Portland State comes to town on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8. All home matches begin at 2:05 p.m. Pacific time and are streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.
