It was another hard-fought game in Brookings, S.D. this morning, as Eastern Washington volleyball dropped its second matchup against South Dakota State, 2-3. After trailing 0-2, the Eagles rallied to force a fifth set, but could not complete the comeback.

"I'm very pleased with how we responded in the third and fourth sets," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "We're a work in progress for sure and winning on the road is challenging. But we've seen what we can be capable of and now just need to keep striving to that end."

In the opening set, SDSU jumped on Eastern quickly, building a 9-1 lead. The Eagles had an up-hill battle but continued to chip away at the Jackrabbit lead in the set. Sage Brustad continued to score for the Eagles, accounting for five kills in the first set. Down 10-19, Eastern put together a 6-0 run to get within striking distance of SDSU. Renata Lopez Morales led the run with a kill and a block assist with Katie Fleck. The effort gave the team the opportunity to flip the score, as the Eagles pulled within one at 20-21 on a kill from Sadie Bacon. The Jackrabbits tightened up and scored the final three points to win the set 25-21 and they had the lead in the game.

Eastern hit .233 in the first set and SDSU had .283 a stat line.

The Eagles fought back in the second set, with Bacon delivering a service ace and a kill early. Brustad would continue to score and recorded a service ace to give Eastern a 9-5 lead. The Jackrabbits would get the lead back after a 7-1 stretch for a 12-10 advantage. The set would go back-and-forth as both teams put together runs. The Eagles had some separation with a 17-15 lead on a kill from Bacon and an ace from Casonndrah Polo. A 6-1 run from SDSU would put the Jackrabbits in the driver's seat of the set. Brustad would get back-to-back aces and tie the set at 22. SDSU then separated from the Eagles and won the set 25-23 for a 2-0 advantage in the game.

Eastern was held to a .023 hitting percentage, while the Jackrabbits were .257 on the attack.

SDSU seemed to be in control in the third set, getting out to a 9-4 lead over Eastern. The Jackrabbits extended the lead to 15-9, looking to complete the sweep. Eastern organized an 8-2 run that would tie the third set up at 17. The Eagles took the lead at 20-19 with a kill from Fleck. SDSU managed to retake the lead and was up 22-21. Fleck was key at the end of the set, earning two kills and tying the score twice for Eastern. A Jackrabbit attack error gave the Eagles a 25-24 advantage. Lopez Morales would score the clinching kill and the Eagles won the set 26-24 and cut the SDSU lead to 2-1 in the game.

The attack for Eastern improved measurably in the third, hitting .270, while holding the Jackrabbits to a .200 percentage.

The Eagles jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the fourth set, but SDSU reeled the score back, tying up everything at five. Eastern fired back with a 6-0 run, powered by a pair of Fleck kills. As the set moved on, the Eagles continued to keep their lead, with Fleck scoring at-will. Brustad and Lopez Morales joined in the effort and kept the Jackrabbits guessing where that attack was coming from. Fleck had five kills in the set and helped lead the team to a 25-14 win for Eastern. The game was now tied at two sets.

The Eagles rode a .344 attack percentage to even the game, while the defense held the SDSU attack to a -0.026 percentage.

After giving up the 2-0 lead, the Jackrabbits came out firing in the fifth set with a 5-0 lead. They would then push the lead out to 9-2 and forced a timeout from Eastern. Trailing in the set, Eastern responded with an 8-3 stretch to get within two of SDSU. The Jackrabbits managed to score three of the next four points to get the 15-11 win in the fifth and clinch the game 3-2.

Eastern hit .120 in the game and SDSU finished with a .250 percentage. The Eagles record fell to 2-3 and the Jackrabbits are now 3-2.

Key Statistics
Katie Fleck set a new career high with 17 kills and hit .170 on 53 total attacks. Fleck's previous best was 15 kills against Weber State in January of 2021. It was Fleck's sixth career double-digit kill game.

Lindsey Russell recorded her second-straight double-double with 46 assists and 15 digs. The 15 digs matched her career high and it was Russell's 12^th career double-double.

Eastern had a good morning serving, recording 12 aces. Sage Brustad set a career high with six and Sadie Bacon added three. Brustad's six aces are tied for the 10^th most for a single game in program history and tied for the fifth most in a five-set game. 

Brustad notched her fourth career double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs. Her dig total was a career-high.

The Eagles had four players with double-digit digs. Along with Russell and Brustad, Makenna Collins had 15 and Morgan Blazzard had 12. It was Collins' 18^th career double-digit dig game and Blazzard's third of her career.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will travel to Boise, Idaho next weekend for a three-game tournament. The Eagles will play Southern Utah on Friday, September 9 at 11:30 am Pacific Time and Butler at 6 p.m. On Saturday, September 10, Eastern faces the host, Boise State, at 11:30 a.m.