Playing its first Big Sky Conference matchup of the year at home, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team fell in straight sets (22-25, 20-25, 19-25) to the visiting Sacramento State Hornets tonight (Sept. 30) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
"We needed to come out stronger offensively. I thought that we made a bit too made errors offensively. I do want to shoutout Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala, I thought she played very well tonight. At one point in the match, she was hitting over .600 and we've been working with her all week on trying to be more offensive and keeping her errors at a minimum and she did that for us tonight. Ashlyn Blotzer also had a nice night," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Offensively, we need to step up. We want our pins to be above .200 and we had too many below that tonight."
 
Sacramento State utilized two aces and a 4-0 scoring run to jump out to a 5-2 lead that grew to 7-3 to open the match. Down 8-5, the Eagles found their footing on back-to-back kills from Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala that sparked a 5-0 run to give EWU a 10-8 advantage. The run consisted of three kills in total for Keala, plus a block. The set would work its way into a 13-13 tie from there and it was the Hornets who strung together three-straight for a 16-13 lead. The Hornets would never trail again throughout the first set, however, a 3-0 run by the Eagles that was capped by a Sage Brustad service ace tied the set back up at 22-22. Sacramento State was able to collect the final three points, claiming set one 25-22.
 
The Hornets never trailed in the second set as they pulled ahead 12-6 and never looked back. Eastern was able to find a trio of kills from Ashlyn Blotzer, Keala and Brustad that helped EWU pull back within two points, 16-14, and force a Sacramento State timeout. Out of the break, the Hornets responded with a 3-0 run of their own and they would go on to win the second set, 25-20.
 
Eastern Washington had to work to erase a 9-3 deficit in set three and they would be able to make some ground and cut into the Sacramento State lead, 12-10, but the Hornets went on a 5-0 run to lead 19-11. Down 20-12, true freshman Adia Messenger subbed into the game and the Eagles would go on a 5-0 run behind her serve. The run consisted of two kills by Blotzer and two kills from Keala and the Eagles were back within two points, 20-17. Sacramento State still had the upper hand, closing out set three on a 5-2 run to win 25-19 and take the match 3-0.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: With the loss, Eastern Washington falls to 5-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Sacramento State improves to 6-7 and 1-2.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ashlyn Blotzer hit .385 on the night with eight kills and only three errors on 13 attempts. Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala also had eight kills and three errors on 17 attempts to hit .294. Blotzer also had three block assists to lead the team.
 
Sage Brustad led the team with two service aces and she also had nine digs, five kills and two blocks. Makenna Collins led the way with 11 digs and Lindsey Russell had 20 assists.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington hit .135 on the night with 36 kills and 21 errors on 111 total attempts. The Hornets swung .287 with 39 kills and eight errors on 108 total tries. Eastern was out-blocked 11-to-4 and three aces to Sacramento State's four. Both teams had 35 assists each and the Eagles had 50 digs compared to their opponent's 48.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles are back in action tomorrow night when they host Portland State at 6 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.