For the first time since 2017, the Eastern Washington University volleyball teams lands in the win column after a match with Northern Arizona University. The Eagles hosted the Lumberjacks tonight (Oct. 28) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash., picking up a four-set victory (25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 21-25).
 
Eastern Washington hit .250 on the night and held Northern Arizona to .242. Additionally, the Eagles had 12 service aces as a team, and were led by Maya McClellan (20 kills, 10 digs) and Renata Lopez Morales (10 kills, 15 digs) with double-doubles.
 
The win snaps a six-match losing streak to Northern Arizona, the program's first win over the Lumberjacks since Oct. 5, 2017.
 
"Our players were really ready for tonight, they were game-focused. We had a great conversation prior to the game about how focused we were going to be, and I thought that showed as we played," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "We were hungry to upset someone in the top of the conference. We've had opportunities, we played well against Weber State, and tonight was our night. We didn't have a great showing when we were at Northern Arizona, and that was something that the team had talked about prior to tonight's match. We out-attacked them, out-blocked them, out-served them, all of the things that provided a nice win for us tonight."
 
The Eagles came out and hit .500 in the opening set with 18 kills and only three errors. A large 10-1 run midway through the set from Eastern Washington helped them lead 17-10. The run was highlighted by three kills from McClellan, three kills from McKenna Russell, and consecutive service aces by Lindsey Russell. Northern Arizona quickly responded with a 5-0 run of their own, cutting the lead to 17-15. Hanging on to a two-point, 20-18, lead Eastern Washington closed the set on a 5-1 spurt with McClellan delivering the final kill to help Eastern Washington win 25-19.
 
Consecutive kills from McKenna Russell helped the Eagles pull away 12-9 in the second set with a 7-1 run. The teams went point-for-point with Eastern leading 15-12 when NAU took a lead for good, 19-15, after seven-straight points. Down 23-19, the Eagles found momentum with a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 23-21, but NAU found the final two points to even the set, 25-21.
 
Neither side could breakaway easily in the third set, as the frame saw 10 ties and five lead changes. Down 16-15, it was EWU who found its groove first. The Eagles fired off a 7-1 run to pull ahead 22-17. A McClellan kill gave the Eagles set point, 24-19, but the Lumberjacks hung around with a 4-0 run to cut the set to 24-23. Sage Brustad found the game-winning kill and the Eagles went up 2-1 after a 25-23 win.
 
It was all Eastern Washington in set four. Northern Arizona earned the first point, but the Eagles never trailed from there. EWU built an 8-3 lead that stretched to 11-6. Up 19-14, the two teams traded point-for-point with the Eagles holding the advantage as the lead continued to extend to 24-19. NAU would once again fight off set point, but Brustad found a way for the final kill and the Eagles went on to win, 25-21.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With tonight's victory, Eastern Washington improves to 9-10 overall and 5-6 in Big Sky Conference play. Northern Arizona falls to 8-12 overall and 6-5 in league action.
 
Eastern Washington continues to lead the all-time series over the Lumberjacks, 38-33, and tonight's win snaps a six-match losing streak to NAU. It was the first overall win since Oct. 5, 2017 and the first win at Reese Court since Oct. 6, 2016, snapping a two-match home losing streak to the Lumberjacks. It also marks Leslie Flores-Cloud's first victory over Northern Arizona.
 
The two teams split the season series with wins on their own home floors, as tonight avenges a 3-0 loss back on Sept. 25 in Flagstaff, Ariz.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Both Maya McClellan and Renata Lopez Morales earned double-doubles tonight. McClellan led the way with 20 kills and 10 digs. She hit .279 on the night with eight errors on 43 attempts, plus a service ace and five blocks.
 
Lopez Morales hit .222 with 10 kills and four errors on 27 attempts to go with 15 digs.
 
Makenna Collins led the team with 16 digs and also had two service aces. Lindsey Russell led the team in both aces (4) and assists (41). She also had seven kills on eight attempts to hit a whopping .875 on the night.
 
McKenna Russell had nine kills and two errors on 18 attempts to hit .389, plus had two aces and two blocks. Noa Torio had three aces and Ashlyn Blotzer had three blocks.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles bested the Lumberjacks in every major statistical category tonight except digs, where they were just edged 58-54.
 
Eastern Washington hit .250 with 57 kills and 22 errors on 140 total attempts. Northern Arizona swung .242 with 44 kills and 14 errors on 124 attempts.
 
Eastern had 12 service aces to NAU's six, seven blocks to their six, and 46 assists to their 39 assists.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles are back in action this Saturday, Oct. 30, at Reese Court against Southern Utah. Admission for the 12 p.m. Pacific time first serve is free and will also be broadcast on ESPN+. Southern Utah is coming off of a 3-1 win over Idaho tonight in Moscow, and the Eagles beat the Thunderbirds on the road in five sets back on Sept. 23 to open Big Sky play.
 
MORE COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH LESLIE FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On Top-Performances: "Our lineup was very focused and executed. Ashlyn Blotzer did a great job blocking, she was holding blockers. Lindsey Russell's offense was huge, and we had multiple hitters above seven kills. Credit our offense to Lindsey Russell, and our defense looked good behind with Makenna Collins and Renata Lopez Morales back there. Noa Torio came in and gave us three service aces on the night, it was a collective effort."
 
On Playing Southern Utah on Saturday: "We're hitting our stride right now. I'll be over-communicating to them that tonight we can celebrate, but it ends tonight and we have to re-focus for Saturday. We have to stay where we are offensively from the service line and how we're attacking, and clean up a few things on serve-receive, but we'll be ready for the T-Birds."