CHENEY, Wash. — Fully into November, the fall season is only a few weeks away from being complete and the winter season is just getting started. Volleyball hosts two critical games at Reese Court this week. Football plays its second-to-last game of the season on the road against Montana State. Men's basketball opens its season tonight and has two additional games on-deck for this week. Women's basketball will be on the court twice this week, Wednesday and Friday.
Football — Saturday, Nov. 11 at Montana State (12 p.m. PT / 1 p.m. MT)
The Eagles look to build off their dominant 48-13 win over Cal Poly with their final road contest of the season, in Bozeman against #5-ranked Montana State.
DE Da'Marcus Johnson earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors on Monday for his effort against Cal Poly, headlining a defensive performance that was the Eagles' best of the season, allowing just one offensive score. Running backs
Tuna Altahir (3 TD; 2 rush, 1 rec) and
Justice Jackson (2 TD; 1 rush, 1 rec) led the offense as Eastern bolted out to a 45-11 halftime lead and cruised the rest of the way.
The Eagles (4-5; 3-3 Big Sky) take on a Montana State squad (7-2; 5-1) that has been a juggernaut for much of the season, but EWU-MSU games tend to be close affairs. Both of the last two head-to-head matchups have been 3-point games, including a 35-38 defeat in Cheney last season. The Bobcats have won the last two in the all-time series, with Eastern winning the seven games prior to that (2012-18). Montana State's only conference loss this season came on the road against also-top-5-ranked Idaho two weeks ago (21-24).
The game will be broadcast online via ESPN+ or on the radio via 700 ESPN and The Varsity Network app.
Volleyball — Thursday, Nov. 9 vs. Northern Arizona, 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11 vs. Northern Colorado, 2 p.m. (Get Tickets)
Eastern Washington will play its final three games at home, starting with two matchups this week. The Eagles start with Northern Arizona on Thursday night, followed by Northern Colorado on Saturday evening.
The Eagles are currently just on the cutline for the Big Sky tournament, sitting at eighth with a 4-9 conference record. The team is a game and a half ahead of NAU in the standings. Eastern is 10-15 overall this season.
This past weekend, EWU fell in both of its road games, with a 3-1 result to Sacramento State and 3-0 against Portland State. Against Portland State, senior outside hitter Sage Brustad recorded her 1000 career kill in the first set. Brustad finished with nine in the game and has 1006 total in her career.
Kate Hatch is two assists away from 2000 for her career, split between Eastern and NAU. Makenna Collins now sits at 983 total digs for her career. EWU leads the Big Sky in aces per set, averaging 1.79 and has 163 total to lead the conference. Brustad is second in the Big Sky with 0.48 per set, scoring 41 total, while Hatch is seventh with .036 per set and 33 total.
Men's Basketball — Monday, Nov. 6 at Utah (6:30 p.m. PT); Friday, Nov. 10 at Ole Miss (5 p.m. PT); Sunday, Nov. 12 at Cincinnati (9 a.m. PT)
Men's basketball opens their regular season with the first of several daunting non-conference opponents, playing the Pac-12's Utah Utes on Monday night before taking on the SEC's Ole Miss and Big 12's Cincinnati over the weekend.
The Eagles look to build off a sensational 2022-23 season that saw the team set new program and conference records with an 18-game winning streak starting in mid-December. The Eagles won their first 16 conference games on their way to a regular season conference championship, the 5th in EWU history. They upset Washington State on the road in the 1st round of the NIT, marking the 2nd postseason win of any kind in EWU history (the other came in the 2016 CBI) and 9th overall appearance in any postseason tournament. They lost at Oklahoma State in the second round (60-71). The midseason winning streak was the longest in the nation at the time, spanning 74 days.
Read the full 2023-24 Men's Basketball Season Preview here.
Women's Basketball — Wednesday, Nov. 8 at Southern Utah, 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time, Friday, Nov. 10 at Utah State, 4 p.m.
The much anticipated 2023-24 season for Eastern Washington women's basketball starts this week with two games in Utah. EWU begins against Southern Utah on Wednesday in Cedar City. The team then travels to Logan to play Utah State on Friday.
Eastern Washington was picked to win the conference in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll, receiving six-of-nine first place votes. In the media poll, Eastern was slated second behind co-regular season champions, Northern Arizona. The two teams each garnered 12 first place votes. The conference released its
preseason All-Conference team, with two Eagles making an appearance on the list. Guard
Jamie Loera and small forward
Jaydia Martin earned the preseason honors after earning All-Conference selections last season.
Head coach Joddie Gleason starts her third season leading the team after going 19-11 overall and 11-7 in the Big Sky last season. The team advanced to the Big Sky Conference semifinals after defeating Montana. The win was Eastern's first postseason victory since 2019. EWU had a 10-win improvement from 2021-22, matching the best season win turnaround in program history.
Cross Country — Friday, Nov. 10 at NCAA West Regional in Sacramento, Calif. (10 a.m. PT)
The Eagles look to build off the program's best finish at the conference meet in the last decade (men since 2013, women since 2015) in Sacramento at the 2023 NCAA West Regional.
Once the regionals have concluded, the top two teams in each regional — there are nine in total — automatically qualify for the championships, which equates to 18 automatic qualifiers. The NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee will then choose 13 at-large teams to fill out the 31 team field.
Eastern looks to qualify an individual runner for the Championship for the first time since 2016, when Sarah Reiter qualified for the second-straight year (she finished 86th in 2016). The last EWU men's runner to qualify for nationals was Paul Limpf in 2008.
From the regional, the first four finishers who do not belong to an automatic qualifier or an at-large team automatically advance to the championships. All four finishers have to finish in the top 25 within their region. Altogether, 36 individuals automatically qualify and two are chosen at-large, making 38 the grand total. The two at-large selections are the highest placing individuals at a regional that were not automatic qualifiers.
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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