MATCH NOTES

CHENEY, Wash. – For the first time since 2016, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team is playing in the postseason. The Eagles earned a bid to the 2021 Big Sky Conference Spring Volleyball Championships, which are hosted by Northern Colorado and run from March 31 to April 2 in Greeley, Colo. All matches will be streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 1050.
 
Eastern Washington earned the No. 8 seed and will take on No. 1 Weber State in the quarterfinals on March 31 at 12 p.m. Pacific time. The winner of the championships will earn the Big Sky's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. For a complete bracket and more information, click HERE.
 
BIG SKY TOURNAMENT HISTORY: This will be the 21^st all-time appearance for the Eagles at the Big Sky Tournament, which is also the first since 2016 and the first under third-year head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. The Eagles have an 18-18 overall record at the championships and are 5-3 in the quarterfinals. The program has won two tournament championships, once in 1989 and again in 2001.
 
This is the first time Eastern has been a No. 8 seed and they are 1-7 all-time against No. 1 seeds. Eastern Washington and Weber State have met twice before in the quarterfinal, with the Eagles owning a 2-0 overall record in the round. All-time, EWU is 4-0 against the Wildcats as they are also 2-0 when the teams meet in the semifinals. The last time the two squads faced off in the tournament was in the semifinal round on Nov. 28, 2008 where the Eagles won 3-0 in Portland, Ore., to advance to the finals where they lost to Portland State, 3-1.
 
The Eagles have never participated in a tournament in Greeley, Colo., and haven't made it past the quarterfinal round since the 2011 season. Eastern Washington has only made the tournament three times since 2010 (2011, 2015, 2016).
 
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Eastern Washington earned the No. 8 seed after finishing the season 6-11 overall and 5-11 in Big Sky play. Portland State also finished 5-11 in conference action, but EWU won the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating the Vikings on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8 in Cheney, Wash., both coming in five sets.
 
The Eagles are coming off two losses at Southern Utah to end the regular season, first falling in three sets on March 19 and then in a five-set battle on March 20. It marked the eighth time this season that the Eagles have had a match go to five sets, going 4-4 overall. Their other two wins came in three sets over Northwest Nazarene and in four sets over Idaho, both at home in Cheney.
 
As a team, the Eagles hit at a .182 clip with 11 kills per set and average 9.9 assists, 1.3 aces, 1.7 blocks and rank sixth in the conference with 14.78 digs per set.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer ranks seventh in the Big Sky in hitting percentage, leading the team with a .295 clip with 2.26 kills per set. She also leads the Eagles with .68 blocks per set with 49 total on the year.
 
Maya McClellan (2.48) and Sage Brustad (2.46) also pace the Eagles with over two kills per frame.
 
Both Lindsey Russell (6.95) and Ana Paula Zandona (6.26) lead the team in assists per set and rank eighth and 10^th in the conference, respectively. Russell also has five double-doubles on the year while Zandona has two.
 
Catelyn Linke ranks third in the conference with 4.65 digs per set while also leading the team with .24 aces per set. She is sixth all-time in EWU history in career digs, totaling 1,250.
 
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS: Weber State won the regular season title after finishing 15-1 both overall and in conference action. It ends the season on a five-match winning streak heading into Wednesday's contest, and head coach Jeremiah Larson earned the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year nod after leading the Wildcats to their first-ever regular season crown. WSU's lone loss came on March 7 at Northern Arizona in four sets.
 
The Wildcats lead the conference in hitting percentage (.237), kills per set (13.20) and assists per set (12.25), while ranking fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.182), fourth in blocks per set (2.07), second in service aces per set (1.92) and third in digs per set (15.63).
 
Sam Schiess leads the Wildcats and ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage with a .367 clip. The Wildcats also boast the conference's leader in kills per set in Rylin Adams (4.32) while Dani Nay is fourth with 3.62. Nay is also second in the Big Sky with .52 service aces per set, while Ashlyn Power leads the way with 10.53 assists per set.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Eagles and the Wildcats opened the unique 2021 season against each other in Ogden, Utah on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23 where Weber State won both, 3-1. EWU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first game, but lost the next three. In game two, the Eagles claimed set two but wound up falling 3-1.
 
EWU leads the all-time series, 43-36, but have lost six-straight. Should the Eagles pull the upset, it will be their first win over Weber State since Oct. 27, 2016 when they won 3-2 at Reese Court. From 2013 to 2016, the Eagles won five-straight over WSU but have now dropped six-straight and have won four out of the last 10.
 
When facing the Wildcats, Eastern Washington is 20-14 in three sets, 18-14 in four sets and 5-8 when the match goes to five sets. In the postseason, EWU is 4-0 all-time and they are also 4-1 all-time against WSU on a neutral floor.

UP NEXT: With a win over Weber State, Eastern Washington will face the winner of No. 4 Sacramento State and No. 5 Northern Arizona in the semifinals on Thursday, April 1 at 3 p.m. Pacific time. The championship match is set for 7 p.m. PT on Friday, April 2.
 
The Eagles faced both Sacramento State and Northern Arizona on the road earlier this season. EWU lost to the Hornets 3-0 on March 6 and 3-2 on March 7. They fell to the Lumberjacks 3-0 on Feb. 14 and 3-1 on Feb. 15.