SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team rematched Sacramento State today (March 7) in Sacramento, Calif. After getting swept in three sets to the Hornets yesterday, the Eagles battled but fell in five sets after being down a set in the fourth (14-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-20, 12-15).
 
Eastern Washington had three in double digit kills, led by Maya McClellan with 13. Ana Paula Zandona collected her second-straight double-double with 44 assists and 18 digs. Four Eagles collected double-digit digs led by Catelyn Linke with 25. Renata Lopez Morales had seven blocks and 10 kills, while Ashlyn Blotzer also added 10 kills.

"We did a really nice job of coming back day two, we had a lot of opportunities to win and put ourselves in good situations but we came up short, which happens. One of the things we talked about was to improve our block and we did a good job of executing those changes. We had a nice defensive night and not only did we have 12 blocks, but we out-dug them. To have four players in double-digit digs is testament to how good we were blocking," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala stepped in to our outside hitter position and did a really nice job, but I want to highlight our middles. Renata Lopez Morales and Ashlyn Blotzer were both in double-digit kills and that's awesome and the connection between them an Ana Paula Zandona was good tonight."

Eastern Washington was off to a slow start in set one, only hitting .065 with eight kills compared to the Hornets who swung .290 with 13 kills, as they took a 25-14 decision and EWU went down 1-0 in the match.
 
The second set was closely contested at the beginning with both sides tied 10-10 until Sacramento State took a 13-10 lead. The Eagles started to click and found three-straight kills from McClellan, Fleck and Lopez Morales to start a 7-1 run to grow an 18-15 lead. Sacramento State cut the lead to 18-17 when the Eagles found offensive momentum, closing the set on a 7-0 run to win 25-17 and even the match 1-1. Keala had three kills during the final spurt to lead the way.
 
Eastern's best set statistically came in set three as they swung .206 with 11 kills and only four errors. The Eagles were up 9-7 when Sacramento State cruised on a 4-1 run to lead 11-9 and then pulled ahead 16-12. It was a close battle from there, and Eastern trailed 20-19 when the Hornets closed the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-20 and retook a 2-1 lead.
 
The Hornets jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the fourth set when Eastern Washington used a 4-0 run, that included two aces from Puaoolelagi Sao, to lead 5-3. Another 4-0 Eagle run later in the set grew the lead to 11-8. It was all Eastern Washington from there, as they pulled ahead 17-13 to force a Hornet timeout. Sacramento State would cut the lead to 21-20 after a 3-0 run, but the Eagles ended the set on a 4-0 run to win 25-20 and send the match to five sets.
 
Sacramento State used a 3-0 run to pull ahead 9-5 in the decisive fifth set, forcing a timeout. Out of the break, Eastern exploded on a 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead. The run was highlighted by an ace from Linke, two kills from McClellan and two block assists that included Lopez Morales. Sacramento State stayed composed, finding five quick points to pull ahead 14-10 and looked to put the match away. That's when Lopez Morales found a kill and Zandona followed with a service ace to make it a 14-12 game. The Hornets found luck at the net and came up with a block, edging the Eagles 15-12 in set five to take the match 3-2.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, Eastern Washington falls to 5-8 overall and 4-8 in Big Sky Conference play, while Sacramento State improves to 7-5 and stays undefeated at home. Prior to today, the Hornets had only dropped two sets all season at home.
 
The Eagles are now 4-2 overall when matches go to five sets this season.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Maya McClellan led the Eagles with 13 kills and recorded six digs and four blocks.
 
Renata Lopez Morales led the way with seven blocks for the Eagles and also had 10 kills. She hit .556 on the day with no errors on 18 attempts.
 
Ashlyn Blotzer also had 10 kills and hit .231 with four errors on 26 attempts. She also added four blocks.
 
Ana Paula Zandona earned her second-straight double-double with 44 assists and 18 digs while adding an ace and two blocks.

Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala came just short of a double-double with eight kills, 11 digs and three blocks.

Catelyn Linke collected 25 digs. Puaoolelagi Sao was the other Eagle to record double-digit digs with 12 and had two service aces.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington out-hit Sacramento State with a clip of .161 while the Hornets hit .141. The Eagles had 50 kills and 24 errors on 161 attempts while Sacramento State had 54 kills and 28 errors on 185 total attempts.
 
The Eagles out-blocked the Hornets, who are third in the conference in blocks, 12 to 10 for a new season-high. Eastern Washington also set a new season-high of 92 digs compared to Sacramento State's 78.
 
Sacramento State had eight aces to EWU's five and 51 assists to Eastern's 46.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington returns home to host Idaho in its final regular season home matches of the season on Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13. First serve is set for 4 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, on Pluto TV Ch. 1053.