For the first time since 2017, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team is beginning Big Sky Conference play 1-0. The Eagles traveled to Cedar City, Utah, a place they hadn't won at since 2015, and defeated Southern Utah 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 16-25, 15-8).
 
Four Eagles reached double digit kills in the victory, led by Sage Brustad who had a double-double of 13 kills and 14 digs. Sadie Bacon also had 13 kills, hitting .417 on the night with three service aces. Maya McClellan and Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala rounded out the offense with 10 kills each.
 
"I'm really excited to pull a win out tonight. Half of our team is still in Cheney, but I want everyone to know how much they still are a part of this win," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud, who guided the team to a Big Sky opening win for the first time in her tenure. "I'm excited about our offense tonight. We'll need to limit our errors going into Northern Arizona, but to have four people in double-digit kills was really a testament to our setters' hard work."
 
Both teams were fairly even to start the match, with the Eagles holding the slight advantage. Southern Utah used a 4-0 run to take a 10-8 lead and continued to pull ahead to lead by as many as three points. Down 17-15, Ashlyn Blotzer found a kill that would start a 3-0 run. Blotzer would then team up with Brustad for a block and then with McKenna Russell for another and the Eagles retook an 18-17 lead. SUU then called timeout and went on a 4-0 run out of the break. An ace by Sophia Spoja would end the run, but the Thunderbirds found two quick points to pull ahead 23-20 and forced an EWU timeout. The break helped, as Brustad and McClellan hammered down consecutive kills to cut the lead to 23-22. However, Southern Utah got the final say on its home floor, collecting the final two points to win 25-22 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Thunderbirds were off to a 4-1 start in set two before the frame moved into a 5-5 tie. SUU pulled back ahead 9-6, but the Eagles stormed back with a 3-0 spurt to tie the set 11-11. It would be a back-and-forth affair from there as the two sides found themselves tied 13-13, 14-14, 15-15 and 17-17. That's when the Eagles stepped up, pulling ahead 20-17 after consecutive kills from Brustad and Bacon to force a SUU timeout. The lead would build to their largest of the night, 23-19, and a Bacon service ace gave EWU set point. The Thunderbirds fought it off once, but Keala was there with the set-winning kill and the Eagles evened the match with a 25-20 win. In all, Eastern Washington hit at a .278 clip with 15 kills during the frame.
 
Kills by Keala and Brustad, plus a Noa Torio service ace, gave EWU an early 8-4 lead. SUU would respond with four-straight points to tie the set 8-8, but a Brustad kill gave EWU the lead back and they never trailed from there. The Eagles used runs of 5-0 to lead 14-9, 3-0 to lead 18-11, and another 3-0 spurt to lead 24-16. The Thunderbirds would fight off set point three times, but EWU hung on for the set three victory, 25-19, to take the 2-1 lead.
 
It was all Southern Utah in set four, as they capitalized on 15 Eastern Washington errors to cruise to a 25-16 victory to force a decisive fifth set.
 
The teams were tied 4-4 early on when Eastern Washington found its footing with a 4-0 run to lead 8-4 in the final set. In all, the Eagles would outscore the Thunderbirds 10-1 down the stretch to build a comfortable 14-5 lead. Not too comfortable, though, as SUU clawed back with three-straight points to cut the lead to 14-8. That's when Keala stepped in for the kill and hammered it down, helping EWU win 15-8 and take the match, 3-2.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington improves to 5-4 overall and 1-0 in conference action while Southern Utah falls to 4-9 and 0-1. The victory is EWU's second-straight, both of which came in five sets as the Eagles are now 2-1 when matches go the distance this season.
 
The Eagles now lead the all-time series 8-7 and snapped a three-match losing streak to Southern Utah. Tonight's victory is the first in Cedar City since Oct. 1, 2015 and snapped a five-match road losing streak.
 
It also ends a three-match losing streak in conference openers, and the first to come on the road since Sept. 22, 2016, the first overall since 2017, and the first for head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Sage Brustad led the way with 13 kills and a career-high 14 digs for a double-double. She also collected two blocks. Lindsey Russell was the other Eagle to record a double-double with 40 assists and 15 digs.
 
Freshman Sadie Bacon followed with 13 kills and hit .417 on the night with only three errors on 24 attempts. She also had three of EWU's six service aces and two blocks.
 
Sophia Spoja collected 16 digs and Noa Torio had seven. Each also had a service ace along with Adia Messenger, who also saw playing time as a setter, dishing out 10 assists in the win.
 
Maya McClellan had 10 kills, two blocks and seven digs. Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala also had 10 kills to go with three blocks and six digs. Ashlyn Blotzer led the way with seven block assists.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington hit .123 on the night with 59 kills and 39 errors on 163 total attempts. Southern Utah hit .120 with 43 kills and 25 errors on 150 tries. Each team had six service aces each, and the Thunderbirds edged the Eagles in total blocks, 12-to-9.
 
EWU dominated SUU in assists (50-36) and digs (71-60).
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles look to improve to 2-0 in Big Sky play for the first time since 2017 when they head to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Northern Arizona on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 12 p.m. Pacific time. The Lumberjacks are also 1-0 (3-7) in Big Sky play after sweeping Idaho at home tonight (Sept. 23).