Eastern Washington volleyball started its final road trip of the 2022 regular season with a matchup against Sacramento State on Friday night (Nov. 10). Eastern fell in the game, 0-3[19-25, 20-25. 15-25] to the Hornets. The Eagles are now 4-9 in the Big Sky and 9-15 overall this season. Sacramento State improves to 9-5 in conference and 13-13 overall.

Eastern had difficulty establishing consistency on offense, suffering from 23 attack errors. The Hornets had seven attack errors in the game.

Opening the game, Sac. St. was aggressive in its attack, jumping out to a 9-5 lead over the Eagles. Sage Brustad would fire up her swing and get the score back to two points at 8-10. The Hornets would stay aggressive and continue to fire at-will against Eastern. They began to pull away at 18-12, before a Sadie Bacon stopped the run with a kill. Sac. St. had built enough separation and won the first set, 25-19, for the game lead.

The Eagles hit just .086 in the first set, while the Hornets were hitting a .353 stat line.

Eastern looked to change course in the second set, but Sac. St. came out hitting strong once again. The Hornets were out to a quick 7-2 lead that they then pushed to 12-6. Tanai Jenkins and Brustad came up big for the Eagles with kills in the set to get Eastern points. The Hornets had found a rhythm on their attack and continued to extend their lead. The Eagles had trouble with attack errors and could not keep up with Sac. St. The Hornets would win the second set, 25-20, and now led the game, 2-0.

Eastern improved to hit .125 in the set. Sac. St. cruised and were in control with .375 attack percentage.

Now in the third set, the Hornets pushed to end the game early. They rolled out of the gate with a 10-4 lead to force a timeout from the Eagles. With Renata Lopez Morales serving, Eastern managed to stabilize the set. Lopez Morales recorded an ace, while Katie Fleck came through with a kill. The Hornets would then add to its lead with a 6-2 stretch for a 17-9 lead. After trading points, Sac. State ripped off a 5-0 run to secure control of the set. The Hornets went on to win the set 25-15 behind .444 hitting in the set.

In the game, Eastern hit .034, while Sacramento St. recorded a .388 percentage.

Key Statistics
The Eagles served well in the game, recording eight aces and only five errors. Lindsey Russell led the team with three, while Sadie Bacon and Sage Brustad each had two.

Brustad led the team with seven kills. Tanai Jenkins and Katie Fleck each had five.

Makenna Collins had a game-high, 12 digs, giving her 16 games this season with double digit digs.

Sacramento St. tallied 12.0 blocks, while Eastern had none in the game.

Neither team had a player record double digit kills in the game.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will travel up to play Portland State on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. Pacific Time to conclude its 2022 road schedule.