CHENEY, Wash. — Everything came together for Eastern Washington volleyball on Thursday night, as they defeated Portland State, 3-1. Eastern excelled at all levels of the game, with balanced offense, tough defense and aggressive serving. The Eagles improve to 2-3 in the Big Sky and 8-9 overall this season.
Eastern recorded 15 aces, tying for the third-most in program history and the most since 2005. Sage Brustad tied for the game-high with 15 kills and hitting .243.
"I could not be more proud of our team tonight. We knew we were playing a tough opponent so we wanted to come out and compete," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "We had a good game plan coming into tonight. Our players executed it and they put a lot of pressure on [Portland St.] from the service line. That really helps us to build momentum. I think we have a really good group of servers out there. It's something we work on at practice and you saw the results of that effort. We knew they were going to get their shots and we wanted to do our best to slow them down, while getting some swings of our own."
The Eagles applied the pressure at the service line in the opening set, racking up six aces with no errors. Makenna Collins led the team with three aces while Bri Gunderson added two. The Eagles got four kills from Brustad and won the set 25-18 to go up 1-0 in the game. Eastern hit .282 on 34 total attacks.
Portland St. responded in the second set, blitzing the Eagles with 52 total attacks and getting 18 kills. The Vikings led 23-14, but Eastern mounted a furious comeback with an 8-0 run. Despite the effort, PSU managed to hold on and win the set 25-22, tying the game at one.
EWU was on fire in the third set, hitting a blistering .548. The team had 19 kills on 31 total attacks, committing only two errors. In a blink, Eastern was up 11-4 and rolled to a 25-13 win and a 2-1 lead in the game. Gunderson led the attack with six kills and an eye-popping .714 attack percentage.
Leading Portland St., the Eagles continued to follow their game plan in the fourth set, building a 12-7 lead. The set tightened up at 15-13, but Eastern responded with 3-0 run, sparked by two aces from Jannie Blake. EWU closed out the Vikings with a 25-16 win in the set.
Eagle Notes
- Sage Brustad now has 10 double-doubles this season after recording 10 digs. The senior has 20 double-doubles in her career.
- Six Eagles recorded two-plus aces in the team's 15-ace effort. Makenna Collins led the team with four, while Bri Gunderson added three.
- Eastern finished with 71 digs for their second 70-plus dig game this season.
- Collins posted 23 digs for her second-consecutive 20-dig game. The junior has three 20-dig games this season and six in her career.
- Jannie Blake recorded her first career double-double as an Eagle with 15 assists and 11 digs.
- The Eagles notched their fifth game this season with 10 or more total blocks.
- Tanai Jenkins set a career-high with seven total blocks, getting two solo and five assists. Jenkins also tied her career-high with seven kills.
- Erin McInnes set a career-high at Eastern with five total blocks, one solo and four assists.
Up Next
Eastern Washington hosts Sacramento State back at Reese Court on Saturday (Oct. 7) at 12 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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