CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team hosted Northern Colorado this evening (Jan. 31) at Reese Court. The Eagles jumped out and claimed the first set, but dropped the next three in the 3-1 loss (25-16, 18-25, 14-25, 19-25).
 
"I was excited with the way we jumped out of the gate. I wish we would've kept that momentum. One of our keys was serving tough and I felt like after game one we let down a little bit," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Northern Colorado did a great job coming back from the second set and served tough which threw our serve-receive off. Our serve-receive was not high enough for us to win the next three sets."
 
With the scored tied 6-6 in the opening set, Eastern Washington found momentum with a 4-0 run to pull ahead 10-6. The Bears would creep back in and cut the deficit to 11-9, but that's when Ashlyn Blotzer and Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala hammered down back-to-back kills. The kills would spark a 9-0 run that included three service aces from freshman Sage Brustad and the Eagles built an impressive 20-9 lead.
 
Eastern Washington was holding a 23-11 lead when the Bears fired off six-straight points to cut the deficit to 23-16. It was not enough, as EWU found the last two points and claimed the opening set, 25-16. In the first set, EWU hit .205 with 11 kills and only three errors on 39 total attempts.
 
Northern Colorado jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and the Eagles were eventually able to cut into the advantage to trail by one, 7-6. From there, the Bears used 14-2 run to lead 22-10. Eastern Washington would not back down quietly, as they responded with an 8-1 run to come back within five points, 23-18. Northern Colorado found the last two points to even the match with a 25-18 decision. Despite the set two loss, the Eagles still hit .200 with 10 kills and only two errors.
 
The Bears commanded the third set, hitting .214 with 15 kills and holding the Eagles to a negative percentage with four kills and five errors. Northern Colorado took the third set, 25-14, and the 2-1 lead in the match.
 
UNC pulled ahead 11-4 in the fourth set and then extend the lead to 16-8. The Eagles began to creep back with a 5-1 run that included back-to-back kills from Blotzer and Keala to cut the deficit to 17-13 and force a Northern Colorado timeout. The Bears tried to put the match away by building a 22-14 lead, but the Eagles had other plans and fought UNC off with a 4-1 run to trail 23-18. A kill from Katie Fleck fought off match point for the Eagles, but the Bears had the final say and won 25-19 to take the match 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington drops to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in Big Sky Conference play, while Northern Colorado improves to 2-1 overall and in league action.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the Eagles with 10 kills. She hit .375 on the night with only one error on 24 attempts. She also had a service ace and two blocks.
 
Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala followed with seven kills and she also had nine digs.
 
Sage Brustad served up five of Eastern's seven service aces. She also had six kills, six digs and a solo block.
 
Lindsey Russell dished 21 assists and had seven digs, followed by Ana Paula Zandona with eight assists.
 
Defensively, Catelyn Linke collected 14 digs and only needs 19 more to move into eighth on Eastern's all-time dig list.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Eagles hit at a .129 clip with 33 kills and 15 errors on 140 total attempts. Northern Colorado swung .224, collecting 54 kills and 20 errors on 152 total attempts.
 
Eastern Washington had seven aces to UNC's five. They also edged the Bears in blocks, 5-3. Northern Colorado collected 74 digs and 45 assists to Eastern's 49 and 31, respectively.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado face off again tomorrow (Feb. 1) at 3:35 p.m. inside Reese Court. The game will be broadcast for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1053 with live stats available on EWUStats.com.