GREELEY, Colo. — The season lives on for Eastern Washington volleyball as the team upset the No. 2 seed Northern Colorado Wednesday night. The Eagles trailed 2-1 in the game before rallying to win the next two sets to defeat the defending conference champions. Eastern is now 13-16 on the season.
Sage Brustad led the team with 17 kills, while Bri Gunderson followed right behind with 15.
"We knew going through this season that we wanted to be building to November. This is a marquee match against a really good team. We wanted to come out and play composed. I think they did a nice job of that tonight," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "It's not about beating [Northern Colorado], but about performing for these fans who are so loyal to the game of volleyball. I'm just really proud of my team. We will make sure to appreciate what we've accomplished. We'll go back and sleep on it, then get ready for tomorrow."
Eastern set the tone of the game in the opening set, pouring in 17 kills on .250 hitting. Kalista Lukovich had the hot-hand with five kills on 10 total attacks. The Eagles' defense held firm, limiting the Bears to .143 hitting. UNC tied the set at 23 late, but Lukovich and Brustad fired in kills to give EWU the 25-23 set win. They had a 1-0 lead in the game.
The Bears responded in force during the second set, hitting .423 and clamping down on Eastern's hitters. The Eagles posted a .129 attack percentage in the set. UNC tied the game at one with a 25-18 win in the second.
In the third set, EWU's offense continued to struggle, but the defense stepped up and limited the Bears to only .105 hitting, while hitting .114 themselves. UNC had a 21-12 lead, but Eastern launched a 9-2 run that closed the gap to only two points. The Bears refocused and scored two of the next three points for a 25-23 set win, gaining a 2-1 advantage in the game.
Moving to the fourth set, the Eagle offense came to life, recording a .394 hitting percentage. Erin McInnes was key for EWU, getting five kills on .444 hitting. Like the first set, UNC trailed the majority of the set, but made a late push to tie the score at 23. Gunderson came up clutch with a kill and a UNC attack error allowed the Eagles to force a fifth set with a 25-23 win in the fourth set.
Opening the fifth set, the Bears built an early 4-2 lead, but Eastern closed the gap to tie the score at five. After tying once more, EWU jumped ahead 9-6, getting two kills from Brustad, along with an ace. The teams then went back-and-forth on scores, but the Eagles maintained their lead. Gunderson carried the team down the stretch, getting two kills and a block assist with McInnes for the 15-10 set win and a 3-2 win in the game.
Eagle Notes
- Eastern Washington earned its first postseason win since 2008, when they defeated the No. 1 seed Weber State as the three seed in the semifinals.
- The win also snapped an 11-game losing streak to Northern Colorado that dated back to November of 2017, along with the longest current losing streak to a single opponent. It was EWU's first win over Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Tournament in program history.
- The game featured 19 ties and six lead changes.
- Eastern finished with 15.0 blocks, tying for the third most in a single game in program history in the tournament. Bri Gunderson's 9.0 blocks is also tied for the fourth-most for an individual match in the program's tournament history. Gunderson matched her career-high at Eastern in blocks.
- Erin McInnes set a new career-high with 11 kills, while hitting an efficient .333.
- Makenna Collins had a game-high 20 digs in the game and now has five, 20-dig games this season.
- Both setters for EWU tallied more than 20 assists for the first time this season, with Jannie Blake getting 26 and Kate Hatch finishing with 21.
Up Next
Eastern Washington will play the No. 3 seed Montana State tomorrow (Nov. 23) at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.
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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