The Eastern Washington University volleyball team opened up the 2021 season at the Idaho Volleyball Classic today (Aug. 27) with a 3-0 loss to Grand Canyon in Moscow, Idaho. The Eagles battled, dropping the final two sets by only two points in a match that saw 22 total ties and five lead changes overall (17-25, 23-25, 24-26).
 
"We continued to get better throughout the match. Our side-out percentage continued to increase, and I was excited about that. We did some good things offensively, hitting .244 overall which was good, and we out-blocked them," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud, who officially began her fourth season at the helm today. "I was happy with Sadie Bacon and Alyssa Radke's play today, and we were very balanced offensively. Ashlyn Blotzer, Renata Lopez Morales, Sadie Bacon and Sage Brustad all contributed and our offense looked good."
 
The Eagles were off to a fast start in the opening set, as Sadie Bacon, Renata Lopez Morales and Sage Brustad fired off consecutive kills for a 3-0 lead. With the set tied 8-8, the Lopes found their footing and used a 4-0 run to take a 12-8 lead. Grand Canyon kept the advantage from there, as another 4-0 run late in the set grew the lead to 21-14. GCU took the opening set, 25-17, after swinging .438 with 14 kills and no errors. However, it was Eastern's best clip of the day as well, hitting .357 with 15 kills.
 
Eastern jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set as well thanks to a block from Lopez Morales and Bacon plus a service ace from Ellie Garrett. The Eagles held all the momentum from there, cruising on a 6-1 run for a 10-4 lead. The Lopes began to chip away, cutting the score to 10-7 and then using a 5-0 run to tie the set at 14-14 all. Back-to-back kills from Blotzer plus two from freshman Alyssa Radke gave the Eagles a 22-20 lead. EWU would come up short after that, as the Lopes closed the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-23 and go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The third set was closely contested until the final points, with 11 ties and three lead changes overall. After the Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead, GCU strung together one of their own to lead 5-3 early on in the third set. Down 8-6, Eastern Washington took advantage of two attack errors to tie the set up at 8-8. EWU would fall behind 17-14 and used a timeout. But the break worked, as the Eagles went on a 4-1 run to tie the set at 18-18 once again and were able to use three-straight points to take a 22-21 lead. Grand Canyon bounced back and regained a 23-22 lead and then led 24-23. Garrett hammered down a kill to keep Eastern Washington alive, but the Lopes found the final two points to win 26-24 and take the match 3-0.
 
"Tomorrow, I'd like to be better at serving and passing and I want to continue siding-out at high percentages and continue to serve tough," concluded Flores-Cloud.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Today's match marked the first of the season for both teams. Eastern Washington is 0-1 while Grand Canyon starts the year 1-0.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer led the team with seven kills, while Maya McClellan, Renata Lopez Morales and Sage Brustad each had six. In her first career match, freshman Sadie Bacon earned the start and had five kills, four blocks and a service ace. Lopez Morales also had four blocks while Blotzer had three.
 
Ellie Garrett and Lindsey Russell split the setting duties, with Garrett recording 15 assists and a service ace and Russell had 13 assists and six digs. Sophia Spoja led the way with 13 digs.
 
Also making her Eastern Washington debut was Alyssa Radke, who hit .375 with four kills and had two blocks. Makenna Collins also played her first official match in an Eagle uniform.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington hit .244 on the day with 37 kills and 15 errors on 90 total attempts. Grand Canyon swung .269 with 43 kills on 104 attempts and also had 15 errors.
 
The Lopes served eight aces to EWU's two, but Eastern Washington out-blocked GCU, seven to four. The Eagles also edged Grand Canyon in digs, 37 to 33.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles conclude play at the Idaho Volleyball Classic tomorrow (Aug. 28) with a 12:30 p.m. Pacific time matchup against Portland (1-0) in Moscow, Idaho. The game will not be streamed, but live stats can be found on GoVandals.com/livestats.