The Eastern Washington University volleyball team earned its first sweep of Big Sky Conference play this afternoon (Oct. 30) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles played host to Southern Utah University and won 3-0 (26-24, 26-24, 25-11), winning their second-straight match to improve to 10-10 overall and 6-6 in conference play.
 
"Our team did a great job coming together. We were down in set one and set two and we fought tooth and nail to win both in extra sets because of our effort," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "In set three, we followed Lindsey Russell. She's done a great job setting for us. She came out in set three and said, 'we're going to do this right now,' and I want to give her kudos for leading our team. We felt her energy."
 
The Thunderbirds opened the first set with a 4-0 run to take an early 6-2 lead. The Eagles worked to tie the set 9-9, only for Southern Utah to use a 6-0 run to take a 15-9 lead. Eastern Washington kept chipping away, using a 3-0 run to cut its deficit to 16-13. The Thunderbirds still led 20-17 when the Eagles found their momentum, using a 6-0 scoring run to take a 23-20 lead.
 
With Eastern up 24-21, the Thunderbirds fought back, using a 3-0 run to tie the set 24-24. Renata Lopez Morales stepped in for the kill, followed by a block by Maya McClellan and McKenna Russell and the Eagles held on for the 26-24 set one victory.
 
It was a back-and-forth in set two, as Southern Utah jumped out to a 4-1 lead before a McClellan ace capped a 3-0 run to tie the set 6-6. After Eastern Washington used a 5-0 run to take an 11-8, Southern Utah pulled ahead 14-11 after a 6-0 spurt of their own. Eastern tied the set 14-14, but the Thunderbirds found four-straight points to lead 18-14.
 
Down 20-15, EWU started chipping away and eventually cut SUU's lead to 21-20. After Southern Utah pulled back ahead 23-21, the Eagles were back within a point after a Lindsey Russell kill and tied the set 23-23 after a Sage Brustad ace. Southern Utah earned set point, 24-23, before an Ashlyn Blotzer kill re-tied the set at 24-24. The Thunderbirds then committed two-straight errors and EWU went on to win, 26-24.
 
Eastern Washington bolted out to an 8-1 lead and never trailed in set three. The lead extended to 11-3 then 14-5 and eventually 21-8. The Eagles would hit .500 in the set with 11 kills and hold the Thunderbirds to .000 en route to the 25-11 set three victory and the 3-0 win.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington, who has won three out of its last five matches, improves to 10-10 overall and 6-6 in Big Sky Conference play. Southern Utah falls to 6-18 overall and 2-10 in conference action.
 
EWU continues to lead the all-time series, 9-7, and have won the last two match-ups against the Thunderbirds. The Eagles also earn the season sweep after beating SUU in five sets back on Sept. 23 in Cedar City, Utah.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the team with nine kills and hit .412 on the day to go with two blocks.
 
Lindsey Russell had five kills on five attempts, plus led the team with 23 assists to go with two service aces and six digs.
 
Sage Brustad had five kills, two aces, a block and six digs. Makenna Collins led the team with nine digs and also had an ace.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington hit .198 with 33 kills and 16 errors on 86 total attempts. Southern Utah hit .090 with 27 kills and 19 errors on 89 total tries.
EWU had nine aces to Southern Utah's eight, but were out-blocked eight-to-six. Eastern also edged the Thunderbirds in assists, 26-25, and digs 38-32.
 
UP NEXT: The final regular season road trip of the year takes place at Montana on Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. Pacific time and Montana State on Nov. 6 at noon. Both games will be on ESPN+. Eastern Washington beat the Grizzlies in five sets and lost to Montana State 3-1 at Reese Court the first time around this season.