The Eastern Washington University volleyball team faced Portland in the second and final day of the Idaho Volleyball Classic today (Aug. 28), picking up a 3-1 (27-25, 18-25, 25-19, 26-24) victory over the Pilots in Moscow, Idaho.
 
"The fight of our team today was really, really good. One of our mottos this year is, 'Power of the Unit', and I think that our offense showed that. We had so many hitters contribute for us today. Defensively, multiple players had double-digit digs and multiple aces," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Our players are learning how to play with each other and the more confident we get the better we'll be. Resilience is something you have to have to be an Eagle, that mentality is something that we're always looking for. To see us all fight as hard as we did, I was pleased."
 
The Eagles now improve to 1-1 and handed the Pilots (2-1) the first loss of their season. In the win, EWU collected 14 service aces which is tied for 10^th all-time in program history in a four-set match. Lindsey Russell served five of those, which is tied for seventh overall in a four-set match as well.
 
True freshman Sadie Bacon was named to the All-Tournament team after leading the team in kills (11) and blocks (3) today to go with two aces.
 
"Portland was a good serving team as well. They went back there and served tough and we weren't giving up. We knew we needed to be in this game and serve tough as well and defend our serve, and it worked to our advantage," added Flores-Cloud.
 
Tied 5-5 early in the first set, a 3-0 run that consisted of a kill from Ashlyn Blotzer, an ace from Noa Torio and a block from Blotzer and Maya McClellan gave Eastern an 8-5 lead. Portland worked to take an 11-10 lead following a 3-0 run of its own and would extend the lead to 16-12 later in the set.
 
The Eagles began to fight back when Bacon delivered a kill to put EWU within a point, 19-18. With the set tied 21-21, Bacon was there again with a kill and the Eagles retook the 22-21 lead. With the set tied 23-23, a bad set by Portland helped Eastern Washington face set point, only for the Pilots to take advantage of an EWU error and the set was tied again. Once it was UP's turn to face set point, Brustad was there with a kill to keep the Eagles alive at 25-25 and another UP attack error extended Eastern's lead to 26-25. That's when McClellan and Bacon delivered the set-winning block and the Eagles won 27-25 to go up 1-0 in the match.
 
Bacon hit .571 in the opening frame with four kills on seven attempts and no errors, while Brustad had two aces.
 
It was all Portland in set two, as the Pilots jumped out to a 10-3 lead and never looked back. EWU found some life with a 3-0 run that consisted of kills from Keala and Brustad and an ace from Lindsey Russell to cut the lead to 17-11.
 
Facing set point 24-15, Brustad and Bacon delivered consecutive kills to help EWU stay alive. A UP attack error helped the Eagles stay alive once more and Portland called a timeout, ahead 24-18. The Pilots maintained their advantage following the break and found a kill to win 25-18 and even the match.
 
Brustad's third ace of the day helped cap a 3-0 run that gave Eastern a 4-2 lead early in set three. The lead would extend when the Eagles strung together a 5-0 spurt that included three aces from Lindsey Russell for a 10-5 lead. After Eastern's fifth service ace of the set, this one coming from Torio, the Eagles pulled ahead 13-7 and forced a Portland timeout.
 
Eastern's lead continued to grow with another 5-0 run to lead 19-8. The run was highlighted by McClellan who had two kills and a block during the spurt. With the Eagles up 24-12, Portland threatened and used a 7-0 run to cut Eastern Washington's lead to 24-19. The run was put to a stop by Alyssa Radke who delivered a kill and the Eagles hung on to win 25-19 and retake a 2-1 lead.
 
With the crucial fourth set tied 6-6 early on, it was Portland who pulled away first with a 6-1 run to lead 12-7. A 3-0 run that included consecutive aces from Bacon cut the lead down to 12-10, and the Eagles continued to fight from there.
 
After EWU cruised on a 7-2 spurt to pull within a point, 18-17, UP answered back to lead 21-17. Renata Lopez Morales and Radke then stepped up with back-to-back kills and the Pilots would call timeout. Bacon and Brustad delivered clutch kills to keep EWU in the game, but it was Portland who found set point first, 24-22. After another UP error and Lindsey Russell's fifth ace of the day, Portland would call its final timeout. Out of the break, Blotzer was there to deliver the game-winning kill and Eastern came back to win 26-24 and took the match 3-1.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington improves to 1-1 overall and handed Portland their first loss of the season to fall to 2-1. The Pilots defeated Nevada and Idaho yesterday, while the Eagles lost to Grand Canyon to start the year.
 
Eastern Washington continues to lead the all-time series over Portland, 7-5 in a matchup that dates back to 1986. Eastern has now won four out of the last five matches and it was the first time the two teams have faced each other since 2014.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Sadie Bacon (11) and Maya McClellan (10) reached double-digit kills and also led the team with three blocks each. Sage Brustad was one kill short of a double-double, collecting 10 digs and nine kills to go with three service aces on the day.
 
Lindsey Russell served five of Eastern's 14 service aces and also had 25 assists and four kills. Ellie Garrett also stepped in as a setter, collecting 21 assists, an ace, and six digs.
 
Noa Torio had three aces and Bacon collected two. Sophia Spoja led the team with 12 digs.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington hit .236 on the day with 56 kills and 23 errors on 140 total attempts. Portland hit .222 with 45 kills and 19 errors on 117 total attempts.
 
The Eagles had 14 service aces to UP's 11 and both teams were even with five blocks each. EWU also edged Portland in assists (49-43) but had 56 digs to Eastern's 46.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington heads to Texas for four matches in five days. First up is an away game at Tarleton State on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. Pacific time in Stephenville, Texas.
 
Then the Eagles head to San Antonio, Texas for the UIW Cardinal Classic, hosted by Incarnate Word. EWU opens play against St. Thomas (Minn.) on Sept. 3 at 1 p.m. PT and wraps up play against the hosts the following day at 2 p.m.
 
The Texas road trip concludes on Monday, Sept. 6 with a matchup at Prairie View A&M. First serve is set for 4 p.m. PT.