CHENEY, Wash. – For the fourth-straight time at home, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team won a match in five sets. Today's win comes over Montana for the second day in a row (Feb. 22). The Eagles found themselves down 2-0 in the match and built a comeback to top the Grizzlies 3-2 (18-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-9) for their fourth Big Sky Conference victory of the season.
 
Sophomore Maya McClellan led the way with a career-high 22 kills. Ashlyn Blotzer (14) and Sage Brustad (11) also tallied kills into double digits, while Catelyn Linke recorded a season-high 27 digs, moving into seventh all-time on EWU's career dig list. Ana Paula Zandona handled the setting duties with 45 assists.
 
"We steadied out our side-out percentage in set three, and that makes a world of difference. We had some rocky parts in set four with serving. We talk a lot about playing clean volleyball and capitalizing on our opportunities, and that's what we were able to do in set five," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Catelyn Linke passed lights-out today and I'm very proud of her for stepping up in her serve-receive." 
 
Montana jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set that built to 10-4 after a 5-0 run. The Grizzlies led for the duration of the set and won 25-18 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Four early kills from McClellan gave Eastern a 5-1 advantage in the second set. In all, set two was tied 11 times with three lead changes. Montana took over the lead, 7-6, after a 4-0 spurt. Both sides went point-for-point with neither side able to pull ahead by more than two points down the stretch. With the set tied 20-20, Montana closed it out with a 5-1 run to win 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead.
 
McClellan was there early again with three kills to help the Eagles build a 9-4 lead in the third set. It was all Eastern Washington in set three, as they hit .500 with 14 kills and only on error on 26 total attempts, holding the Grizzlies to just a .192 hitting percentage. McClellan hammered down seven of the 14 kills in set three, four of which came at the end of the set to help EWU stay alive 25-18 and make it a 2-1 match.
 
A 5-0 run for the Eagles gave them a 9-6 advantage early in set four, which was also closely contested with six ties and five lead changes. The Griz slowly chipped away, taking 12-11 lead. But the lead was brief and the last one Montana would have for the rest of the match, as the Eagles found three quick points to pull ahead 14-12. The Griz came within a point three more times towards the end of the set, once at 21-20 and then again at 23-22. Montana then committed two-straight errors and the Eagles held on and won 25-22 to even the match 1-1.
 
The Eagles led 3-1 in the deciding fifth set before Montana tied the set 5-5. Eastern stayed composed and used a 4-0 run to grow a 9-5 lead. Another 3-0 spurt helped EWU pull away 14-8, and the finishing kill by McClellan gave the Eagles a 15-9 win and the comeback victory, 3-2. In the final set, the Eagles hit .571 with eight kills and no errors.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington wins its second-straight match, and fourth-straight at home, to improve to 5-6 overall and 4-6 in Big Sky Conference play. The Grizzlies drop to 1-9 overall and in conference action.
 
This is the first time Eastern Washington has swept Montana during the regular season since 2016, as they have now won three-straight over the Grizzlies. All three wins in the streak have come at home in five sets.
 
Today's match also marked the fifth-straight five-set match at home for the Eagles, who move to 4-1 overall when the match goes the distance.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Three Eagles notched double-digit kills, led by Maya McClellan for the second-straight match with a career-high 22. She hit .288 on the day with only seven errors on 52 attempts while adding six digs.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer followed with a season-high 14 kills. She hit .357 with only four errors on 28 attempts and also led the Eagles with five blocks.
 
Freshman Sage Brustad collected 11 kills while hitting .346 (2e-26ta) with four digs and two blocks.
 
Catelyn Linke dug up a season-high 27 digs to go with an ace. She also moved into seventh on EWU's all-time dig list with 1,163.
 
Alisha Straw had two aces on the night plus seven digs. Ana Paula Zandona handled the setting duties, notching 45 assists, an ace, two kills and seven digs.
 
KEY STATISTICS: The Eagles edged the Griz in every statistical category. EWU hit .280 on the day with 59 kills and only 15 errors on 157 attempts. Montana swung .202 with 55 kills and 22 errors on 163 attempts.
 
Eastern also recorded 10 blocks to UM's five. The Eagles had six service aces to Montana's five, but had 18 service aces and the Griz had eight.
 
EWU out-dug the Grizzlies, 74 to 73, and had 52 assists to their 47.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington has over a week off before resuming competition at Sacramento State. The Eagles take on the Hornets on Saturday, March 6 at 5 p.m. and on Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m. in Sacramento, Calif.