CHENEY, Wash. — Two of Eastern's teams will close out their home schedules this weekend. Football hosts Northern Arizona on Saturday for the team's senior day celebration. The night before, Volleyball will play Idaho and honor its lone senior,
Sage Brustad. Women's basketball plays its first home game of the season on Thursday against Corban University. Men's Basketball will get back on the road to play Stanford on Friday.
Football — Saturday, Nov. 18 vs. Northern Arizona (1 p.m.) — Get Tickets
The Eagles (4-6; 3-4 Big Sky) close out the 2023 regular season looking to improve their home record to 4-1 on the season as they'll host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (4-6; 4-3 Big Sky) at 1 p.m. at Roos Field. It will be Senior Day in Cheney as we'll recognize and honor outgoing senior players with a pre-game ceremony.
Eastern has won two in a row at home, beating Weber State 31-23 on Oct. 21 and
Cal Poly 48-13 on Nov. 4. They lost last week at 5th-ranked Montana State.
The Eags are 23-12 all-time against NAU, winning four-straight and nine of the last 11 head-to-head matchups. They last faced them during the Spring 2021 season, winning 43-18 in Cheney.
Other notable things to watch include WR Efton Chism III's climb up the EWU Football record books. After pulling in nine receptions for 94 yards last week in Bozeman, Chism now ranks 5th in career receptions, only three behind Brandon Kaufman (2009-12) for 4th place and four behind Aaron Boyce (2006-09) for 3rd. Chism has also entered the top-20 in career receiving yards with 2,438 entering Saturday, good for 14th. Cooper Kupp (2013-16) tops both lists.
Volleyball — Friday, Nov. 17 vs. Idaho (6 p.m.) - Get Tickets
Eastern Washington will host its final game of the regular season on Friday against Idaho. EWU is 5-10 in conference games and 11-16 overall this season. The game will be senior night, as Eastern will celebrate Sage Brustad in a pregame recognition.
The Eagles split games this past week at home, defeating Northern Arizona on Thursday, 3-0. EWU had a strong offensive effort with 13 kills from Brustad and 10 from Bri Gunderson. The team hit. .266 while holding the Lumberjacks to a .163 percentage. The win clinched a postseason berth in the Big Sky Tournament in Greeley, Colo. next week. Kate Hatch also recorded 2000 career assists in the game, finishing with 23 in the game.
EWU then faced Northern Colorado, falling to the Bears, 3-1. The Eagles struggled with attack errors and UNC was assertive in taking advantage of the mistakes. Makenna Collins notched her 1000 career digs in the game and had 13 total against the Bears.
Gunderson is 10th in the Big Sky with a .291 attack percentage, while ranking fourth with 1.17 blocks per set. Brustad's 3.43 kills per set ranks seventh in the conference and her 0.41 aces per set ranks second. She totals 4.11 points per set to rank fifth. Collins carries 4.00 digs per set to slide into sixth on the conference leaderboard. Hatch records 6.31 assists per set and 0.34 aces per set ranking sixth and eighth respectively.
Men's Basketball — Friday, Nov. 17 at Stanford (6 p.m.) — Pac-12 Network
The Eags continue their grueling non-conference schedule at Stanford on Friday evening, marking the fourth-straight road game against a Power 5 school to start their young season. Eastern played at Utah, at Ole Miss and at Cincinnati last week, earning a second half lead against Ole Miss and staying close throughout against Cincinnati.
Junior Cedric Coward led the Eagles with a 15.3 point per game average through the first week, adding 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals. The second-year Eagle has jumped into a starting role after playing big minutes off the bench most of last season. Another bright spot has been the play of redshirt freshman LeJuan Watts, who picked up a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) in his first collegiate game at Utah. He is tied for 3rd on the team with 9.7 points per game.
Stanford is the first of five Pac-12 opponents Eastern will take on this season.
Women's Basketball — Thursday, Nov. 16 vs. Corban University (6 p.m.) - Get Tickets
The 2023-24 home opener is on the schedule this week for Eastern Washington, as Corban University comes to Cheney for the second-straight season.
The Eagles are 2-0 to start the season, getting a pair of road wins this past week. Eastern opened with an 86-77 win against Southern Utah. Aaliyah Alexander scored a career-high 27 points against the Thunderbirds, adding 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. Jaleesa Lawrence matched her career-high with 23 points in the game.
EWU next traveled to Logan, Utah to play Utah State, racing past the Aggies, 75-39. Alexander was again the high-scorer, finishing with 18 points. Jacinta Buckley scored 15 points and Jamie Loera posted a career-high 12 assists in the win.
From the floor, Eastern has started well with a 46.7 overall percentage and a 41.5 percent from three-point range. The team has a plus-7.0 rebounding margin and a plus-1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio through two games.
Tickets for the 2023 EWU Football season are now available! Visit goeags.com/tickets or call the EWU Athletics Ticket Office at 509-359-6059 to secure yours today.
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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