GREELEY, Colo. – The No. 8 seeded Eastern Washington University volleyball team took to the floor in its first Big Sky Conference postseason appearance since 2016 today (March 31), taking on the No. 1 seeded Weber State Wildcats in the Big Sky Quarterfinal. The Eagles ended the unique season with a 3-0 loss (15-25, 21-25, 12-25) to end the year 6-12 overall while Weber State improves to 16-1 and advances to the semifinal in Greeley, Colo.
"That's a really good Weber State team, really good. I was really excited in set two for how well we did and was excited when we had the lead in set three, we just got a little stuck in the first set and at the end of the third and we weren't consistent. Overall, we were toe-for-toe with them in blocking. They have two players on the outside who are dang good, and we're going to get there," said head coach
Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Our players did a tremendous job this year of becoming a team and a unit. Credit to them for working together to reach our goal of getting to the tournament, it's the first time in a long time that we've been here and now we have a taste of it and want more. I'm excited about where our senior class is leaving us. I think they've done a tremendous job, and I want to shoutout our captain
ShaRae Niu who gave up her jersey today for someone else to play. Our senior class is leaving us, but we'll keep getting better."
Set one was even at 4-4 when the Wildcats used a 6-1 run to pull ahead 10-5. The Eagles kept pressing, as a 3-0 run that was capped by a
Katie Fleck kill made it a two-point game, 11-9. That's when Weber State found its momentum, firing off a 9-1 run to lead 22-11. Eastern Washington would fight off set point twice thanks to a kill from
Sage Brustad who then teamed up with
Renata Lopez Morales for the block, but WSU went on to win 25-15 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Weber State built a 10-5 lead in the second set, but a 4-1 run by EWU would cut the deficit to 12-10 and they later came within one point, 13-12, after back-to-back kills from
Maya McClellan and
Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala. The Wildcats pulled back ahead by three, but the Eagles kept chipping away, coming within a point at 16-15 and 17-16. Weber State remained in control, eventually building a 22-18 lead and would win 25-21 for the 2-0 lead.
The Eagles were off to a 2-0 lead in set three that grew to 5-3. Weber State was able to use a 4-0 run for its first lead of the set, 8-6, and held the advantage from there. The Wildcats used a 5-0 run to build a 20-11 lead and then ended the set with five-straight points to take the final set 25-12 and the match 3-0.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington concludes the season with a 6-12 overall record. Weber State improves to 16-1 and advances to play No. 4 Northern Arizona in tomorrow's semifinal.
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala led the way with eight kills while also totaling two blocks and five digs.
Maya McClellan followed close behind with six kills.
Sage Brustad had four kills and also led the team with three blocks along with
Ashlyn Blotzer.
Lindsey Russell handled most of the setting duties, leading the way with 19 assists and finishing with nine digs.
Catelyn Linke led the way with 19 digs, ending her four-year career sixth on Eastern's all-time dig list with 1,269 total.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Wildcats swung .310 on the afternoon with 52 kills and 13 errors on 126 total attempts. Eastern Washington hit .099 with 26 kills and 15 errors on 111 total attempts.
EWU did not have any service aces while the Wildcats had three. However, Eastern only had two service errors and the Wildcats committed seven. Both teams were even with five blocks apiece. Weber State had 57 digs to Eastern's 53, and 46 assists to EWU's 26.
