CHENEY, Wash. – For the first time since 2015, the Eastern Washington volleyball team emerged victorious over Portland State. The Eagles hosted the Vikings at Reese Court on Feb. 7, taking the 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 12-15) win after being down 2-1, and snapped a six-match losing streak to PSU.
 
Freshman Sage Brustad led the Eagles with 16 kills, two of which came consecutively in game five to give Eastern the win and the final points of the match. Lindsey Russell collected her fourth double-double of the season with 38 assists and 14 digs, while Catelyn Linke led the way with 23 digs.
 
Eastern Washington secured the first two points and continued to build an 8-5 lead. Portland State used a 4-0 run to take its first lead of the set, 9-8 and another 3-0 spurt helped them pull ahead 12-10. Both sides went back-and-forth, with neither able to breakaway by more than two points. Eastern was able to cut its deficit to 16-15, but Portland State went on a 6-1 run and claimed the final four points to claim game one 25-18 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Eagles had total control in set two and never trailed, jumping out to an 8-4 lead. Eastern continued to pull ahead as a block from Ashlyn Blotzer and Leah McAdams gave them a 21-16 lead. Portland State was able to cut Eastern's advantage and come within three, 23-20, and fought off set point once, but Renata Lopez Morales was there with the final kill to even the match 1-1 and claim set two 25-18.
 
Portland State took an 18-12 lead in the third set thanks to a 7-1 run. Its lead eventually built to 24-16, but Eastern would not back down. Behind the serve of McKenna Russell, the Eagles fought off set-point six times. The run was highlighted by two kills from Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala, an ace from M. Russell and a block assist from Blotzer and Keala. Despite the late surge, Portland State edged the Eagles 25-22 to retake a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Set four found both sides knotted up at 11-11. That's when M. Russell hammered down a kill and the Eagles were off on a 5-1 run to take a 16-12 lead. Up 19-15, Eastern used another 5-0 spurt to make it set point, 24-15. PSU would fight off the Eagles three times, but a kill from Maya McClellan sealed the 25-18 victory and Eastern tied the match 2-2.
 
The fifth and final set was as close as it could get with four ties early on. After Portland State claimed the first point however, the Eagles never trailed again. Eastern kept its composure and were ahead 13-12 before Brustad hammered down the final two kills to give Eastern the 15-12 set five win and 3-2 victory over the Vikings.
 
QUOTES FROM LESLIE FLORES-CLOUD:
 
On McKenna Russell and Lindsey Russell's Connection: "Lindsey did a great job of trusting McKenna. They have a natural connection. McKenna went in and gave us some serves to give us momentum in game four and started for us in game five. Lindsey undoubtably knows where McKenna is all the time."
 
On Sage Brustad's Performance: "We talked to Lindsey Russell about finding a hot-hitter and Sage was that consistently all night. Giving her balls was very important to understand our offense."
 
On What This Win Means: "The win is over already. We have another game against Portland State tomorrow and we just played them to five sets. We need to get rested, because I felt like our energy was low in set one and I would love to come out tomorrow and have more energy. ShaRae Niu did an excellent job as a senior, she has an incredible role on this team as one of our captains and the energy that she brings is undeniable. She brought it when we needed her to the most."
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington improves to 2-4 overall and collects its first Big Sky Conference win of the season, improving to 1-4. Portland State falls to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in conference action.
 
Today's win snapped a six-match losing streak to the Vikings and marked the first over Portland State since Oct. 10, 2015 – which was also a five-set victory at Reese Court.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Freshman Sage Brustad led the Eagles with a career-high 16 kills. She swung .208 on the day with only six errors on 48 attempts. She also had two service aces and eight digs.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer tied her season-high of 13 kills. She hit .243 with four errors on 14 attempts and led the team with four blocks, one of them solo.
 
Junior Lindsey Russell collected her fourth double-double of the season with 36 assists and 14 digs. Catelyn Linke led the way in digs with a season-best 23 and ShaRae Niu also had a season-high 10 digs.
 
McKenna Russell collected six kills and two service aces. Maya McClellan had nine kills.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington hit .195 with 54 kills and 18 errors on 185 attempts. Portland State swung .168 with 59 kills and 30 errors on 173 total attempts.
 
The Eagles had eight service aces to PSU's four. Both teams were even with six blocks each. Portland State edged Eastern in assists (53-47) and digs (95-75).
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles and the Vikings clash again tomorrow (Feb. 8) at Reese Court with first serve set for 2:05 p.m. Pacific time on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.