Eastern Washington volleyball was finally back at Reese Court on Saturday night for the home opener against Portland State. Eastern went toe-to-toe with the Vikings, but came up short in the game, 3-2[25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 15-25, 7-15].

"It is a tough loss. I'm proud of how we showed up in front of all these fans tonight and gave them something worth cheering for. It shows the direction this program is going," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "In the end it didn't go our way. But I'm very proud of what we're doing at the moment. We have good stuff to work on. You can see how critical [serving] was to the game. The more aggressive we were in our serves, the tougher it became for them and vice versa. [Portland State] was doing that to us later on."

"I came in being competitive and trying to win for my teammates," outside hitter Sage Brustad said. "I was trying to put what we learned in practice and put it into game-time situations. It feels good to have a break from travel. The crowd was awesome tonight. That was one of the biggest crowds we have had in a long time."

Eastern and Portland St. fought for control early in the set, as Sadie Bacon and Katie Fleck recorded early kills. The score was tied at seven before a string of kills from Renata Lopez Morales gave Eastern a slim lead at 12-9. The Vikings stayed close and continued to make the game competitive. With the score at 15-13, the Eagles put together a 5-1 stretch that gave them control of the set. Sage Brustad led the effort with two kills. The score tightened up again as the Vikings went on a quick 3-0 run to pull within two of Eastern. Brustad continued to swing and added a service ace to keep the lead. Makenna Collins added an ace of her own late to push the score to 24-18 in favor of the Eagles. Brustad would clinch the set with a kill and Eastern had a 1-0 lead over PSU.

In the first set, the Eagles hit .269, while PSU had a .241 attack percentage.

The Vikings attacked early in the second set, getting out to a 3-1 lead. The Eagles would counter and tie the set up at four. Alyssa Radke handed Eastern the lead with a kill, but PSU kept up the attack to keep the score tight. With both teams tied at 11, the Eagles organized a 5-0 spurt to race ahead of the Vikings. The key driver was three service aces from Brustad. A 4-0 run from PSU put the pressure back on Eastern. Radke struck for a pair of kills to keep some separation for the Eagles. The Vikings came right back with another run and pulled the score to 21-20. Bacon then turned on the effort, grabbing a kill and a block assist with Lindsey Russell to maintain the advantage. Russell would then clinch the set win with a kill, 25-20, and Eastern had a 2-0 lead in the game.

The Eagles hit .243 in the set, with the Vikings hitting .276.

Now in the third set, PSU looked to extend the game and came out swinging. They built a 9-6 lead over the Eagles. Brustad would lead the charge on an 8-0 run to blow past the Vikings for a 16-11 lead. PSU would begin to chip away at the lead with a 3-0 run that turned into a 6-2 stretch and cut the Eagles lead to 18-17. The set turned into a back-and-forth contest as the Vikings seemed to be gaining momentum. PSU had a 23-22 advantage, but Brustad tied the set with a kill. On the next point, Radke fired in a kill to give Eastern an opportunity for game point. The Eagles could not convert, and the PSU tied the set. The Vikings would then score the next two points and take the set, 26-24.

Eastern's lead was now 2-1 after hitting .267 in the third set. PSU had a .250 attack percentage.

After winning the third, the Vikings had seized the momentum and they opened the fourth set with a 9-3 lead. The Eagles got kills from Fleck and Brustad to try and keep pace, but PSU was rolling in the fourth. They pushed the lead out to 18-9 to double up Eastern. The Eagles pulled the lead back to 20-14, but it was not enough to keep the set going. The Vikings went on to a 25-15 win and tied the game at two.

In the fourth set, Eastern hit only .069 and the PSU finished with a strong, .433 mark.

The game went to the fifth set and the Vikings picked up where they left off in the fourth, jumping out to a 7-2 advantage. Eastern found some consistency in the set, with kills from Radke and Brustad and had the lead cut down to 10-6. A 5-1 run from PSU would then clinch the game for them, winning the fifth, 15-7 and the game 3-2.

Eastern hit .176 in the five-set game, while Portland St. finished with a .312 percentage. The Eagles fell to 5-9 and 0-2 in the Big Sky. Portland State improved to 7-6 and 2-0.

Key Statistics
Sage Brustad earned her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 14 kills and 11 digs. The junior hit .270 in the game and had five service aces.

Alyssa Radke led the team with a career-high 16 kills, adding one solo block and three block assists.

Renata Lopez Morales finished with eight kills and a .400 hitting percentage. The senior had one solo block and three block assists.

Eastern and Portland State tied with 8.0 blocks apiece. 

The Eagles had 10 service aces and eight errors. The Vikings had seven aces and nine errors.

The game had 26 ties and 11 lead changes.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will play one game next week, traveling to Moscow, Idaho to play Idaho on Friday, Sep. 30 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.