The Eastern Washington University volleyball team wrapped up play at the UIW Cardinal Classic today (Sept. 4) with a 3-0 loss (15-25, 19-25, 19-25) to the hosts Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.
 
"I don't think we played very well together today, and I'd like to see improvement on that come Monday. I'd also like to see us have a sense of urgency and I hope we can come ready to go. Incarnate Word had a great offensive night and played well, and we struggled to stop them, they had a nice game," said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. "Maya McClellan did a great job today with her hitting percentage and double-digit kills. I'm proud of her effort. She changed positions for us this year and she's excelling at a high level, we're excited for what she's doing."
 
Maya McClellan was selected to the All-Tournament team. She averaged 2.86 kills per set in two matches. Over the weekend, she swung .298 with 20 kills and just six errors on 47 total attempts. She also collected two service aces.
 
With the opening set tied 5-5, Incarnate Word pulled ahead first with a 7-1 run to lead 12-6. It was all Cardinal from there, as back-to-back kills gave UIW a 23-13 lead and they would go on to win set one, 25-15, and take the 1-0 lead in the match.
 
UIW jumped out to an 8-4 lead in set two, and the Eagles would trail 10-6 before they responded. McClellan fired off back-to-back kills to start a 4-0 run that would eventually tie the set 10-10. The teams went back and forth until the set was tied 14-all. That's when the Cardinals used three quick points to pull back ahead 17-14. Down 24-18, McClellan found a kill to fight off set point but it wasn't enough as EWU dropped the second set 25-19 and fell behind 2-0.
 
A service ace by Sage Brustad helped Eastern jump out to a 3-1 lead in the pivotal third set. The set moved into a 4-4 tie before UIW pulled away 7-4. The Eagles refused to back down, however, using a 5-1 run midway through the set to tie things up at 10-10. The run was highlighted by two kills from McKenna Russell, one from McClellan and a Lindsey Russell serving ace.
 
The set would move into a 13-13 tie before the Cardinals began to pull away once more and eventually led 23-17. McClellan would fire off consecutive kills to make it a 23-19 game, but Incarnate Word found the final two points to 25-19 and complete the sweep over Eastern Washington.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern falls to 2-3 on the year while Incarnate Word improves to 4-2 overall. This was the second meeting between the two programs, with UIW winning both games by scores of 3-0.
 
Eastern Washington is now 0-3 in three set matches this season.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Maya McClellan led the way with 11 kills and hit .474 on the day with just two errors on 19 total attempts. Sage Brustad led Eastern with 10 digs and two service aces. Lindsey Russell also tallied a service ace to go with 13 assists and Ellie Garrett followed with 10 assists as well.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Incarnate Word hit .316 on the day with 42 kills and 1 errors on 98 total attempts. The Eagles struggled a bit offensively, hitting just .160 with 30 kills and 15 errors on 94 attempts.
 
Both sides were even with three blocks each, but the Cardinals had the edge in service aces, 7-to-4. They also had 40 assists to EWU's 28 and 46 digs to Eastern's 38.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington plays its fourth and final match in six days in Texas on Monday (Sept. 6) at Prairie View A&M. First serve is set for 4 p.m. Pacific time in Prairie View, Texas.