The Eastern Washington University volleyball team played host to Idaho at Reese Court tonight (Nov. 9), topping the Vandals in four sets. The visitors claimed the first set, but the Eagles claimed the next three with ease, improving to 11-12 overall and 7-8 in Big Sky Conference play. The win secures the season sweep for EWU over the Vandals, and the third-straight against Idaho overall.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer hit .474 to lead the team with 10 kills, and two Eagles had double-digit digs, led by Sage Brustad with 12. Brustad was also a kill short of a double-double.
 
"We talked a lot about being able to focus, then refocus, and there were a lot of times where Idaho sided-out and we were able to focus and get back on track. I was really proud of our team tonight," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Offensively, Lindsey Russell did a good job spreading out our offense. She was offensive herself, which was something that I wanted her to do, and delivered some nice balls. We had three hitters above .250 and we had multiple servers with two aces, so that was huge for us."
 
The match was close to start, with 14 ties and seven lead changes in the first set. Eight of the ties happened before both teams reached 10 points, and Idaho broke away first. The Vandals used a 3-0 run to pull ahead 13-10, only for the Eagles to immediately work their way back to tie the set 13-13. With the teams tied 19-19, the Vandals used a 3-0 run to pull ahead 22-19 and forced an EWU timeout. The Vandals remained in control out of the break and found set point, winning 25-22.
 
The Eagles had a statement bounce-back win in set two, hitting .385 while holding the Vandals to -.038. Eastern Washington began the set by jumping out to an 8-2 lead after a 5-0 scoring run. The advantage built to 14-4 after another 5-0 run and the Eagles continued to cruise along. Eastern Washington polished off set two with a 3-0 run that included two kills from Brustad and a Makenna Collins ace, evening the set 1-1 after a 25-13 victory.
 
Idaho was out to a 4-0 lead before the Eagles found their footing and a Maya McClellan service tied the set 7-7. After another 8-8 tie, EWU used a 3-0 run for its first lead of the set, 10-8, then pulled ahead for their largest lead of 15-11 after another 3-0 spurt. Eastern Washington held an 18-15 advantage when a 4-0 run by Idaho threatened the lead. After Idaho had a successful challenge that tied the match 18-18, Eastern Washington continued to keep momentum. The Eagles pulled back ahead 23-19 after a 4-0 spurt and found set point at 24-21. The Vandals fought off set point once, but a Brustad kill was the set-winner, 25-22.
 
Eastern Washington hit .333 in the pivotal fourth set, holding the Vandals to .000. The Eagles used a 4-0 run to hold an early 8-4 lead and pulled ahead 11-7. The lead built to a comfortable 20-11 advantage for the Eagles after a 6-0 run that was highlighted by an ace from McClellan and a kill from Blotzer. The Eagles finished off the match with three-straight points, winning set four 25-15 and taking the match 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington improves to 11-12 overall and 7-8 in Big Sky Conference play. Idaho drops to 5-18 overall and 2-12 in league action. The Eagles earn the season sweep over Idaho and have now won three-straight against the Vandals.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the team with 10 kills, hitting .474 with one error and 19 total attacks. She also added three blocks to lead the team.
 
Sage Brustad finished with nine kills, two aces and 12 digs. Makenna Collins also had double-digit digs with 10 plus two aces. Lindsey Russell led the team with 33 assists and had seven kills and no errors to hit .875.
 
Maya McClellan, Ehu Keala and Sadie Bacon also had two aces each.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington served up 11 aces to Idaho's five, but were out-blocked 5-to-4.
 
The Eagles hit .291 overall with 44 kills and 14 errors on 103 total attempts. Idaho swung .115 with 38 kills, 25 errors and 113 attacks.
 
Eastern Washington had 42 digs to Idaho's 35, and 34 assists to UI's 31.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington plays its final regular season match of the year on Friday, Nov. 12 against Northern Colorado. Prior to play, the Eagles will honor four seniors in Ashlyn Blotzer, Maya McClellan, Lindsey Russell and McKenna Russell. First serve is set for 6 p.m., admission at Reese Court is free or the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.