Eastern Washington volleyball hits the road again this week for a pair of matches in Brookings, S.D. Eastern will take on South Dakota State on Friday, September 2^nd at 4 p.m. Pacific Time. The Eagles will have a second matchup against the Jackrabbits on Saturday, September 3^rd at 9 a.m.

Last Time Out
Eastern competed at the Tiger Brawl Tournament this past weekend, going 1-2 in the team's first regular season games. The Eagles swept Southern University [28-26, 25-20, 25-17] to earn Jon Haruguchi's first win as a head coach. Eastern had 12 service aces, with Lindsey Russell leading the team with four. In the team's first game of the season, the Eagles faced Central Michigan, dropping the game 0-3 [26-28, 20-25, 25-17]. The Eagles played the host school, Memphis, in the final game of the tournament, coming up just short, 2-3 [14-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 16-18]. Eastern had four players with double-digit kills, led by Sage Brustad's game-high, 18. The game featured 39 ties and 18 lead changes. 

Scouting the Eagles
Eastern Washington is 1-2 after the first week of the season, with two games on the schedule this week. The Eagles rank fifth in the conference in kills and hitting percentage, with 11.45 per set and a .206 percentage respectively.

Brustad is averaging 3.64 kills per set, with 40 total after the three games. Brustad ranks sixth in the Big Sky in kills and her .299 hitting percentage ranks ninth in the conference. Makenna Collins recorded the most digs for a single game of any player in the Big Sky this past weekend, recording 31 against Memphis. The 31 digs marked a career-high for Collins and she currently sits second in the conference with 4.27 digs per set. Sadie Bacon tallied six service aces in 11 sets played this past weekend and she is tied for fourth in the Big Sky with 0.55 per set. Lindsey Russell totaled 88 assists in three games and averages 8.8 per set to rank sixth in the conference. Russell had 51 assists against Memphis, one shy of her career best.

Scouting the Jackrabbits
South Dakota State is 2-1 to open the season, after playing in the Huskie Invitational hosted by Northern Illinois. The Jackrabbits swept both Northern Illinois and New Jersey Institute of Technology, while dropping a five-set match against Illinois-Chicago. In the preseason Summit League coaches' poll, SDSU was picked fifth after advancing to the semifinals in the conference tournament last season.

In the win over NIU, fifth-year outside hitter Crystal Burk led the game with 13 kills, while hitting .243 and adding 20 digs. Burk had 17 kills against UIC along with 11 digs. Sophomore setter Raegen Reilly organizes the Jackrabbits' offense, averaging 8.36 assists per set in 11 total played.

Eastern Washington is 1-1 against SDSU in program history, with both games taking place on neutral courts. The two teams last met in September of 2012, with the Jackrabbits topping the Eagles, 3-1.

Up Next
Eastern Washington's next road trip is not too far away, as the team will travel down to Boise for three matches. Boise State will host a two-day tournament, playing old Big Sky foe Southern Utah on Friday, September 9^th at 11:30. Later that day, Eastern will play Butler at 6 p.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday, September 10^th against Boise State at 11:30 a.m.