CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team concludes its homestand with a pair of matches this week against Portland State. The Eagles play host to the Vikings on back-to-back days in Reese Court on Sunday, Feb. 7 and Monday, Feb. 8. Both matches begin at 2:05 p.m. Pacific time and will be streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.
The Eagles began their homestand last week with a 3-0 sweep over Northwest Nazarene. After hosting Northern Colorado in a 3-1 loss, Eastern faced the Bears the following afternoon. EWU fought back from a 14-6 deficit in the opening set before taking the first game 25-23. They were then up 2-1 in the fourth set holding a 20-11 lead when UNC forged ahead with a 6-0 run and later took the set in extra points, 27-25.
In the fifth and final set, both sides were tied 14-14 and Northern Colorado had the final say, taking the 16-14 set victory and 3-2 win to just edge the Eagles. The match itself had 28 ties and 13 lead changes.
Ashlyn Blotzer led the team with 13 kills, while
Lindsey Russell collected her third double-double of the season with 38 assists and 12 digs.
Catelyn Linke had 21 digs for her third match of the season with 20-or-more digs.
Eastern Washington now sits at 1-4 overall and 0-4 in Big Sky Conference play, while the Vikings are 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference action. The Eagles average 10.8 kills, 9.9 assists, 1.0 aces and 1.7 blocks per set while ranking fourth in the conference with 15.3 digs per set.
Four Eagles are averaging over two kills per set, led by
Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala with 2.25 and
Maya McClellan with 2.13.
Ashlyn Blotzer (2.10) and
Katie Fleck (2.00) also help lead the way.
Renata Lopez Morales ranks ninth in the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.311, 28k-5e-74a) while leading the team with .75 blocks per set.
Lindsey Russell is fifth in the conference in assists, averaging 8.5 per set.
Catelyn Linke, who ranks eighth all-time on Eastern Washington's career digs list with 1,035, is second in the conference with 4.60 digs per set.
The Big Sky leader in digs is Portland State's Ellie Snook with 5.26 per set. Portland State started the season with a split against Idaho in non-conference action, and then were swept by Northern Arizona in two matches at home the following week.
As a team, the Vikings average 11.7 kills per set while hitting at a .152 clip. They rank in the top-five in the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.162) and assists per set (11.11) while leading the Big Sky in digs per set with 17.68.
Eastern will be looking for its first win over the Vikings since Oct. 10, 2015 when they bested Portland State by a score of 3-1. Since then, the Eagles have dropped six-straight meetings with two of those decided in five sets.
EWU owns a 15-12 all-time record at Reese Court but have dropped three-straight. All-time, Eastern Washington trails the series 27-31.
Following this week's matches, Eastern travels to Flagstaff, Ariz., for a pair of matches on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 against Northern Arizona.
