CHENEY, Wash. — What a difference a few weeks makes for Eastern Washington volleyball against Weber State. Eastern defeated the Wildcats, 3-0 [25-16, 25-17, 25-11], Thursday night with another outstanding defensive effort. The Eagles are now 4-6 in conference and 10-12 overall this season.
EWU held Weber St. to an opponent season-low -.037 attack percentage. Sage Brustad led the offense with a game-high 11 kills and a .226 attack percentage.
"It feels great to win in front of our fans right here in Reese. Our girls worked really hard and it was nice for everything to come together," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "We needed to be more assertive and aggressive in every phase of the game. We have been working on scoring multiple ways in practice the last couple of weeks. We are still in a situation where we need to perform well. If we do that, then good things are going to happen and we are going to feel good about our efforts."
The Eagles showed their improvement in the first set against the Wildcats, building a 9-7 advantage behind a pair of block assists from Bri Gunderson. Eastern pushed the lead out to 19-11, getting kills from Gunderson, Erin McInnes and Sage Brustad. The lead held for EWU and they won the set, 25-16.
Eastern carried over the high-flying swinging into the second set as the team opened with a 9-5 advantage. Brustad registered three kills to build the early lead for the Eagles. After WSU pulled the lead down to 16-13, kills by McInnes and Tanai Jenkins brought the lead back to five. Brustad recorded another kill, adding a service ace to give EWU a 25-17 win in the set and a 2-0 lead in the game.
With momentum, EWU blitzed the Wildcats to start the third set, charging out to a 14-2 lead. Brustad, McInnes and Kalista Lukovich each had two skills in the early run that left WSU with a deficit to make up. The Eagles prevented any comeback and won the set 25-11 to complete the sweep of the Wildcats.
Eagle Notes
- Eastern won its first game against Weber State since October of 2016, defeating the Wildcats 3-2 at home. The win snapped an 11-game losing streak to Weber St and was the first game with Eastern winning a set since a January 2021 matchup in Ogden, Utah. WSU defeated the Eagles earlier this season (9/30), 3-0.
- EWU finished with 12.0 blocks in the game, led by eight total from Bri Gunderson, getting one solo and eight assists. Tanai Jenkins, Sage Brustad, Erin McInnes and Sadie Bacon each had three block assists.
- Brustad added 11 digs in the game for her 12 double-double of the season. She has 22 in her career. Her 11 kills puts her at 980 total for her career.
- The Eagles finished with a .278 attack percentage, with 30 kills on 97 total attacks.
- Jannie Blake posted a game-high 17 assists, while Kate Hatch had 12. Hatch now has 1954 total for her collegiate career.
- Makenna Collins led the team with 14 digs, recording her 19th double-digit dig game this season. Kalista Lukovich has 13 digs in the game or her ninth double-digit dig game.
- The game was only tied four times and had only one lead change, occurring in the first set.
Up Next
Eastern Washington stays at home and hosts Idaho State on Saturday (Oct. 28) with first serve at 2 p.m.
New for the 2023-24 season, the EWU Women's Sports Pass gives fans access to over 30 Eagle Athletics events, including volleyball, soccer and women's basketball for only $5 per game! Learn more and get yours today at goeags.com/tickets or call 509-359-6056.
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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