CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team fell to Northern Colorado in a five-set thriller (25-23, 13-25, 25-21, 25-27, 14-16) on Monday evening (Feb. 1). In all, the match saw 28 ties and 13 lead changes with two sets needing to be decided by extra points.
 
"I'm so proud of them. We were so close and that is a veteran Northern Colorado team. Our young players stood with them and I credit Northern Colorado because that's what we're striving for," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "It's only our second weekend of play in a crazy year and a crazy season. We have so many young players, we're getting experience, and come the end of the year we're going to be someone to reckon with."
 
The Eagles found themselves down 14-6 in the opening game when they used a 6-1 run to cut UNC's advantage to 15-12. Both sides would exchange points with Eastern slowly chipping away at its deficit, but still trailed 21-18. That's when the Eagles used a 4-1 run to tie the set 22-22. The Bears took advantage of an EWU service error and pulled ahead 23-22. A kill from Sage Brustad tied the set for the third time before a block from Ashlyn Blotzer and Lindsey Russell put Eastern ahead 24-23. A Bear error helped EWU claim the first set, 25-23, erasing an eight-point deficit to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Northern Colorado swiftly responded in set two with a 25-13 victory to tie the match.
 
The third set saw 14 ties and six lead changes and the teams were closing in on the end of the set and still locked in at 18-18 with neither side able to break away. That was until Blotzer hammered down a kill and followed with an ace to give Eastern a 20-18 lead and the Eagles never trailed in the set again. A 3-1 spurt gave the Eagles set point at 24-21 and a Catelyn Linke service ace sealed the set, 25-21, and EWU went back up in the match, 2-1.
 
A 5-0 run that included back-to-back aces from Blotzer gave EWU a 12-6 lead in the fourth set and another of 4-0 helped the Eagles hold a 17-9 lead that later extended to 20-11. Eastern Washington looked to put the match away when the Bears came storming back with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to just three points, 20-17. Eastern still held a 22-18 lead, but UNC found four consecutive points to tie the set, 22-22.
 
Back-to-back kills from Maya McClellan and Linke gave EWU set point, 24-22, only to have the Bears even things back up, 24-24. Eastern pulled back ahead following a Bear service error, but Northern Colorado was able to hammer down three-straight kills to take the set in extra points, 27-25, and even the match 2-2.
 
The fifth and final set was about as close as it could get with another eight ties and four lead changes. The first tie came when McClellan and Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala delivered consecutive kills for the 6-6 tie. The Bears reached eight points first, but the Eagles pulled back ahead 9-8 and then led again, 11-10. A quick 3-0 run from Northern Colorado put them back up 13-11, but the Eagles tied the set 13-13 and then again 14-14 after another kill from Blotzer. However, Northern Colorado got the final say and found the last two consecutive points for the 16-14 victory and the 3-2 win.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington falls to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in Big Sky Conference play after nearly knocking off the defending conference champions. Northern Colorado improves to 3-1 overall and in league action.
 
Before tonight, the Eagles had only claimed two sets from the Bears twice in the last 10 meetings. Once in a 3-2 loss on the road on Nov. 12, 2015 and then again at home on Nov. 3, 2017 in a win.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the Eagles in kills with 13. She swung at a .345 clip with only three errors on 29 attempts. Blotzer also led the team with three of EWU's six service aces.
 
Maya McClellan was the other Eagle to garner double-digit kills with 10. She hit .269 with three errors on 26 total attempts.
 
Lindsey Russell collected her third double-double in four games with 38 assists and 12 digs while collected two blocks and a service ace.
 
Catelyn Linke totaled 21 digs and moved into eighth all-time on EWU's career dig list. Noa Torio had 10 digs and Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala had 14 to go with eight kills.
 
Renata Lopez Morales led the team with four blocks and she also had nine kills and only one hitting error on 24 tries to hit .233.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington hit at a .143 clip with 49 kills and 23 errors on 182 total attempts. They collected six service aces, ten blocks, 42 assists and 75 digs.
 
Northern Colorado hit .146 with 57 kills and 29 errors on 192 total attempts. The Bears had five aces, ten blocks, 49 assists and 86 digs.
 
Service errors troubled both sides, with the Bears collecting 10 and EWU totaling 16.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington's homestand continues next Sunday and Monday, Feb. 7 and 8, when they play host to Portland State. First serve for both matches is set for 2:05 p.m. on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.