CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-13) win over Northwest Nazarene today (Jan. 27) for its first victory of the season.
 
After recording 22 digs tonight, senior Catelyn Linke reached a career milestone with her 1,000th dig, becoming just the ninth player in program history to reach the feat.
 
Lindsey Russell appeared in two sets yet recorded her second-straight double-double with 17 assists and 10 digs, while Maya McClellan led the team in kills with nine.
 
"Our team really executed what we asked of them this afternoon. We improved on a lot of things from our matches at Weber State and I was proud of our execution," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We talk a lot about out-hustling teams and playing Eagle volleyball and we don't talk a lot about winning. For us, we played in our system and sided-out at one-hundred percent in set three with a lot of our newcomers in. We continued to get better today."
 
Once both sides settled in, EWU held a 12-11 lead before back-to-back kills from Ashlyn Blotzer helped the Eagles use a 4-0 run to pull ahead 16-11. Northwest Nazarene then answered back with a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to 16-14. Eastern Washington was able to claim the first set after they out-scored the Nighthawks 6-1 down the stretch to build a 24-16 lead. The final kill from Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala helped the Eagles win 25-17 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Eastern Washington hit at a .324 clip in set two, with 13 kills and only one error on 37 attempts. After the Nighthawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Eastern Washington found its footing and used a 5-0 run behind the serve of Russell to take a 5-2 lead. Things would only improve for EWU from there, as a spurt of four-straight points gave them a 17-9 advantage. NNU would come within five points, 19-14, but the Eagles closed the set on a 6-2 run to claim the second set 25-16 and take a 2-0 advantage.
 
It was all Eastern Washington in the third and final set, as they led 15-5 thanks to scoring runs of 5-0 and 4-0. McClellan came alive in the third set as she recorded five of her match-high nine kills during the final frame. Two of the kills came at the perfect time, as the final two points came behind the hand of McClellan to help the Eagles take set three 25-13 and the match 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington improves to 1-2 overall (0-2 Big Sky) while Northwest Nazarene falls to 0-1. It marked the first three-set victory for the Eagles since Oct. 24, 2019 at Idaho State.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: For the second time in three matches, Maya McClellan led the team in kills with nine. A trio of Eagles in Ashlyn Blotzer, Renata Lopez Morales and Sage Brustad were close behind with seven.
 
Blotzer also led the way with three blocks and recorded a service ace. Lopez Morales swung .438 with no errors on 16 attempts. Brustad recorded 10 digs and an ace as well.
 
Lindsey Russell and Ellie Garrett split the setting duties. Russell was subbed out near the end of the second set, but had already recorded her second-straight double-double by that point with 17 assists and 10 digs. Garrett made her collegiate debut this afternoon, recording 13 assists and eight digs.
 
Catelyn Linke was the third and final Eagle to reach double-digit digs with 22, and the mark is historic as she now has exactly 1,000 in her career. She became just the ninth player in program history to achieve the mark. The 22 digs are a season-high and her 17^th career match with 20-or-more digs.
 
Additionally, Seiaulelei Rapanot-Alefaio, Casonndrah Polo and Noa Torio made their collegiate debuts this afternoon.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington bested Northwest Nazarene in every statistical category. The Eagles swung at a .233 clip with 38 kills and only 10 errors on 120 attempts. The Nighthawks hit .058 (28k-20e-137ta).
 
EWU edged Northwest Nazarene in service aces (4-3) and blocks (4-3). They also recorded 33 assists to NNU's 21 and 72 digs to their 53.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington returns to Big Sky Conference play this Sunday (Jan. 31) and Monday (Feb. 1) when they host Northern Colorado at Reese Court. First serve for both matches is set for 2:05 p.m. Pacific time.