CHENEY, Wash. – In a back-and-forth Big Sky Conference battle at Reese Court today (March 13), the Eastern Washington University volleyball team defeated Idaho 3-1 (29-31, 25-22, 25-18, 26-24) on Senior Day.
 
The win comes less than 24 hours after the Eagles dropped a five-set heartbreaker to the Vandals at home. The victory also marks the first over Idaho since Oct. 15, 2016, snapping an eight-match losing streak.
 
Senior Catelyn Linke tallied a season-high 29 digs to go with three service aces and Ashlyn Blotzer led the way with 16 kills while hitting .421 with no attack errors on 38 attempts.
 
"Our team is very good, and I don't tell them that very often. We talked about going and getting the things that you want. Yesterday, we hoped that Idaho would make an error nine times and they didn't. Tonight, it was all about if you want something, go take it," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud "Our hitters did a nice job, and our freshman setter Ellie Garrett jumped in and really helped us. Maya McClellan had never played on the right side before and she came in and helped, too. Kudos to Catelyn Linke for digging everything in the back row and Ashlyn Blotzer can hit anything, we're so thankful for those two and their leadership."
 
Extra points were needed to resolve the opening set, as there were 15 ties and seven lead changes. With an early 5-5 tie, Eastern Washington used a 4-0 run to pull ahead 9-5 and the lead built to 14-8 after a Renata Lopez Morales service ace. Idaho found two runs of 3-0 to make it a one-point game, 17-16, in EWU's favor before eventually working to take its first lead of the set 21-20 to force an Eastern Washington timeout.
 
After a Blotzer kill and a Vandal error gave EWU a 22-21 lead to force a UI timeout, things got interesting. Eastern Washington led 24-23 when the Vandals found two-straight points to lead 25-24. From there, EWU had set point three times before the Vandals took a 29-28 lead. The Eagles tied the set 29-29 after a kill from Sage Brustad, but Idaho collected the final two points to win 31-29 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
It was all Eastern Washington in set two after Ana Paula Zandona opened the frame with a service ace and the Eagles used a 6-0 run to jump out to an 8-2 lead to force an early Idaho timeout. In all, EWU used an 8-1 spurt to pull ahead 10-3 and the run was capped by another Morales ace. After its largest lead of 13-5, another 3-0 run that included a service ace from Linke and a kill from Brustad gave EWU a healthy 17-9 lead. Idaho would try and threaten with two 3-0 runs to cut the deficit 20-15 and then again to 24-21, but the Vandals ended on a service error to help Eastern close out the 25-22 set two victory and even the match 1-1.
 
Idaho jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third set. Behind the serve of freshman Ellie Garrett, the Eagles used a 7-0 run to take a 9-7 lead. Maya McClellan and Blotzer had two kills each during the run and Garrett had two aces. Idaho bounced back with a 4-0 run to retake an 11-9 lead and the set eventually moved into a 15-15 tie. Eastern Washington stayed composed, out-scoring the Vandals 10-3 down the stretch including closing on a 3-0 run to win 25-18 and found a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The fourth set was also closely contested with 11 ties and four lead changes. With the set tied 14-14, Eastern pulled ahead 16-14 before a 5-0 Idaho run gave them a 19-16 advantage and eventually led 23-20. After the Eagles called timeout, Blotzer and Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala had consecutive kills that were followed by a Linke service ace tied the set 23-23. Idaho found a kill to earn set point, 24-23 but it was all EWU from there. Keala hammered down back-to-back kills and McClellan delivered the game winner for the 26-24 decision and the 3-1 win on Senior Day.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: After today's victory, Eastern Washington improves to 6-9 overall and 5-9 in Big Sky play. Idaho falls to 6-8 overall with a 5-7 mark in conference action. The two teams split the meetings this season.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led all players with 16 kills. She did not commit a single attack error on 38 attempts to swing .421 on the night.
 
Freshman Katie Fleck collected double-digit kills for the second-straight day, this time with 14. Fellow freshman Sage Brustad followed with 11 kills.
 
Ana Paula Zandona and Ellie Garrett split the setting duties, collecting 35 and 15 assists, respectively. They each had two service aces.
 
Catelyn Linke led the team in service aces (3) and digs (29) and she is now just 48 digs away from fifth all-time in EWU's all-time dig list. Renata Lopez Morales led the team with three blocks and also had two service aces.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Eagles hit .256 on the day with 59 kills and 19 errors on 156 total attempts. Idaho hit .221 with 56 kills and 22 errors on 154 total attempts.
 
EWU out-blocked Idaho, who leads the conference in blocks per set, 8-to-6. They also out-dug the Vandals 63-to-56 and had nine aces to UI's eight. EWU was slightly edged in assists, 54 to 51. Idaho had 10 service errors and Eastern had six.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington closes the regular season next week at Southern Utah on Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20. First serve is set for 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time, respectively, on Pluto TV Ch. 1055.