Eastern Washington volleyball faced Northern Colorado on Saturday night in Greeley, Colo. The Bears defeated the Eagles 3-0[19-25, 16-25, 9-25] in head coach Jon Haruguchi's first game against his former team.

The first set began with a back-and-forth battle between the Eagles and Bears. Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala provided two kills for Eastern and kept the game tight. A 4-0 burst for UNC would give them separation from the Eagles at 11-7. However, Eastern responded with a 4-0 run and tied the set on a kill from Alyssa Radke. The set continued to be close, with both teams scoring well. After the Bears had jumped ahead, another kill from Keala got Eastern within one at 15-14. The teams traded 3-0 runs to keep the set competitive. UNC would then put together a 5-1 stretch to separate from Eastern. They went on to win, 25-19, and had a 1-0 lead in the game.

Despite the loss, Eastern hit a strong .419 in the set, but UNC was even better at .500.

The Bears had the early separation against the Eagles to start the second set, with a 5-3 lead. UNC would continue to score well and add to its lead over Eastern. Radke and Sadie Bacon would provide kills for the Eagles, but it was not enough to keep up with the Bears. UNC would double-up Eastern at 20-10 and won the set 25-16. The Bears now had a 2-0 lead over Eastern in the game.

For the set, the Eagles were held to .167 hitting, while UNC maintained a .464 attack percentage.

UNC blitzed Eastern in the third set, racing out to a 6-1 lead. The Bears would extend their lead over the Eagles to as much as 18 points during the set. Eastern's offense struggled with five kills and 12 errors in 31 total attacks for a -.226 hitting percentage. UNC completed the sweep of the Eagles with a 25-9 win in the third set, after hitting .323.

Eastern hit .122 for the game and UNC hit .426 to get the win.

Eastern Washington's record in the Big Sky falls to 3-5 and 8-12 overall this season. Northern Colorado improved to 6-3 in conference and 12-8 overall.

Key Statistics
Eastern had five players with five or more kills in the game. Alyssa Radke led the team with seven kills on 20 swings.

Makenna Collins recorded 10 digs for her 12^th double-digit dig game this season.

Eastern had 21 attack errors in the game, with UNC committing six.

The Eagles recorded 33 kills, while the Bears finished with 42.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will return home to play Montana on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time. The Eagles will then host Montana State on Friday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m.