Eastern Washington women's volleyball heads to Spokane on Tuesday night(Sep. 13) for a matchup against Gonzaga at 6 p.m. Pacific Time. The Eagles are playing their final non-conference games this week, with Big Sky play less than two weeks away.

Last Time Out
Eastern competed in the Boise State Classic this past weekend, playing three games in Boise, Idaho. The Eagles went 1-2, opening the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Southern Utah[25-18, 25-18, 25-18] on Friday morning. Sage Brustad had a game-high, 14 kills and Alyssa Radke followed with 12 kills. Later that day, Eastern dropped an 0-3 game to Butler[26-28. 20-25, 22-25]. On Saturday, the Eagles battled the host school, Boise State, tough, but fell 1-3[26-24, 19-25, 15-25, 20-25]. Brustad had 17 kills in the game and Lindsey Russell recorded 38 assists.

Scouting the Eagles
Eastern is 3-5 this season, going 1-3 away and 2-2 in neutral site games. The Eagles offense is productive and efficient, ranking third in the Big Sky in both hitting percentage(.206) and kills per set(12.23). The team defense has also been impactful, leading the conference in opponent kills, allowing only 11.82 per set. At the service line, Eastern is third in the Big Sky with 1.84 aces per set.

The Eagles top offensive threat continues to be Brustad, who had 41 kills this weekend. Brustad is fourth in the Big Sky with 3.77 kills per set. Complementing Brustad, Radke has a .268 hitting percentage and 82 kills this season. Radke recorded a .647 attack percentage against Southern Utah with 12 kills. It is the highest hitting percentage recorded in the Big Sky this season. Sadie Bacon leads the Eagles with a .306 attack percentage, and she is fifth in the conference.

Russell continued to guide the offense over the weekend, averaging 10.09 assists per set. She also averaged 2.70 digs per set, recording double-doubles against both Butler(32, 11) and Boise St.(38, 10).

Eastern has three players in the top 10 for service aces in the Big Sky, led by Bacon with 0.48 service aces per set, tallying 25 total. Brustad has 14 for 0.45 aces per set average to rank fourth and Russell has recorded 13 for a 0.43 average to rank sixth.

Scouting the Bulldogs
Gonzaga is 2-7 on the season and is currently on a three-game losing streak. The Bulldogs dropped games to Weber State(0-3), CSU Fullerton(1-3), and UC Irvine(0-3) this past weekend. The two wins for Gonzaga have come against Florida International(3-0) and CSU-Northridge(3-1).

Outside hitters, Kennedy Croft and McKenna Marshall, lead the Bulldogs scoring from two different spots of the floor. Croft leads the team with 2.66 kills per set and a .204 hitting percentage. Marshall averages 2.64 kills per set, while hitting .133. Cara McKenzie is solid in the middle for the Zags, recording 0.80 blocks per set, with 16 solo and 52 assists.

Eastern Washington and Gonzaga have played 48 times, with the Eagles holding the 29-19 record advantage. The teams have not met since 2012, when the Bulldogs won a 3-0 game in Spokane.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will travel to Nacogdoches, Texas this weekend for three matches. The team will play in a tournament hosted by Stephen F. Austin, starting against Arkansas State on Friday, Sep. 16 at 12 p.m. The Eagles play later that day against Stephen F. Austin at 6 p.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday, Sep. 17 against Texas A&M University-Commerce at 10 a.m.