For the first time in program history, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team will be hosting a regular season tournament inside Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The EWU Volleyball Classic takes place on Sept. 17-18 with four matches over two days.
 
The Eagles play CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 17 at 6 p.m. before capping tournament play on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. against Seattle. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
CSU Bakersfield and Seattle kick things off on Friday afternoon at 12 p.m., and Montana and CSU Bakersfield have the other match on Saturday at 10 a.m. Those matches will not be streamed, but all four contests will have live stats on EWUStats.com.
 
Admission is complimentary and open to the public for all matches, and masks or facial coverings are required inside Reese Court and the pavilion.
 
The Eagles are 3-3 overall and had over a week off of competition after wrapping up a Texas road trip that saw them play four matches in six days. EWU ended the trip 2-2, with wins over St. Thomas (3-1) and Prairie View A&M (3-0).
 
As a team, Eastern Washington is first in the conference in service aces per set (2.09), third in hitting percentage (.222), fourth in kills per set (12.05) and fifth in digs per set (13.32).
 
Ashlyn Blotzer leads the way individually in hitting percentage, swinging at a .366 clip that ranks third in the Big Sky. Maya McClellan is close behind, ranking fifth with a clip of .313. Lindsey Russell is ninth overall in the conference in assists per set (5.41) and fifth in service aces per set (.45). True freshman Makenna Collins ranks seventh overall with .41 service aces per set.
 
On the defensive side, fellow true freshman Sadie Bacon is ninth overall with .94 blocks per set and Sophia Spoja is averaging 3.15 digs per set which is also ninth.
 
CSU Bakersfield is a member of the Big West Conference and it currently sits at 5-1 overall. Most recently, the Roadrunners finished 2-1 at the SMC/USF tournament where they beat Utah State in five sets and San Francisco in four. This marks the first-ever meeting between the Roadrunners and the Eagles, and Eastern Washington is 20-26 all time against Big West opponents.
 
Seattle University competes in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and are 3-7 overall this season with wins over Air Force (3-0), UC San Diego (3-0) and Southern Louisiana (3-1). During last year's abbreviated spring season, the Redhawks finished 2-10 overall.
 
Eastern Washington is 2-7 all-time against Seattle, with the last win dating back to Sept. 16, 2014 in five sets at Reese Court. The last time the two in-state foes faced was on Sept. 10, 2019 in Seattle where Eastern lost in three sets.
 
The EWU Volleyball Classic concludes non-conference play for the Eagles. Big Sky action gets underway next week with matches at Southern Utah on Sept. 23 and at Northern Arizona on Sept. 25. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.