SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In its first game in nearly two weeks, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team faced the Sacramento State Hornets on the road where they lost in straight sets (23-25, 17-25, 13-25).
 
Catelyn Linke led the way with 18 digs, moving into sixth all-time on Eastern's career digs list with 1,181.
 
"I thought Catelyn Linke played really well tonight. She came in focused and was doing a lot defensively for us. She did some really nice things. She came ready to play tonight and served-received half of the court for us, passed a 2-5, and led us in digging," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "If she can come back and play the same game she played tonight plus get the offense behind her, we should have a good match tomorrow night."
 
Ana Paula Zandona finished with a double-double of 25 assists and 10 digs while Ashlyn Blotzer led the way with nine kills and hit .471 on the evening.
 
"Renata Lopez Morales did some great things defensively for us and had two aces and Ashlyn Blotzer started the match very strong, I was proud of her because we've been working on her slide a lot in the past weeks and she came out on fire and was very dynamic offensively," added Flores-Cloud. "I hope to come back tomorrow with a better side-out percentage. We slowly declined and I would like to have a better side-out percentage tomorrow."
 
The first set was tightly contested with 13 ties and seven lead changes. With the set tied 12-12, a 3-0 run by the Eagles that included a kill from Maya McClellan and Renata Lopez Morales gave EWU a 15-12 lead and forced a Hornet timeout. Eastern Washington built the lead to 17-14, when Sacramento State found four quick points to regain an 18-17 advantage.
 
The Hornets held a slight 19-18 lead when back-to-back kills from Sage Brustad and an ace from Lopez Morales helped the Eagles regain a 21-19 lead. Down 22-20, Sacramento State found some momentum and used a 4-0 spurt to reach set point, 24-22. Ashlyn Blotzer tried to keep the Eagles alive with a kill, but the Hornets had the final say and won 25-23 to take the 1-0 lead. The opening set would be Eastern's best of the night, as they swung .214 with 15 kills and only six errors on 42 attempts.
 
Set two was tied 8-8 when the Hornets pulled away and led 13-9. Eastern Washington began to creep back with a kill from Blotzer, an ace from Linke and a block from Zandona and Lopez Morales made it a one-point game, 13-12. However, the Hornets stayed steady and grew a 20-13 lead. Sage Brustad collected a kill then teamed up with Blotzer for a block, but the Hornets used a 4-1 run to close the set and win 25-17 and went up 2-0.
 
The final set was all Sacramento State as the Hornets used an 8-1 run to jump out to an 11-2 lead that built to 16-6. A 4-0 run later in the set gave the Hornets a 21-8 lead and they went on to win 25-13 to take the match in straight sets to remain undefeated on their own home floor.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, Eastern Washington falls to 5-7 overall and 4-7 in Big Sky Conference action while Sacramento State improves to 6-5.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Catelyn Linke led the way with 18 digs and also had a service ace.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer swung .471 on the night with a team-high nine kills and only one error on 17 attempts along with two blocks. Maya McClellan followed with seven kills and Ana Paula Zandona collected her first double-double of the season with 25 assists and 10 digs while recording an ace.
 
Renata Lopez Morales led the team in both service aces (2) and blocks (2).
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Eagles hit .110 on the night with 28 kills and 17 errors on 100 total attempts. They collected five aces, four blocks, 28 assists and 41 digs.
 
Sacramento State swung .269 with 43 kills and 15 errors on 104 total attempts. The Hornets had six blocks, 39 assists and 47 digs.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington faces off against Sacramento State tomorrow (March 7) at 1 p.m. Pacific time on Pluto TV Ch. 1052.