GREELEY, Colo.— The defending champions lived up to their hype Thursday night as Eastern Washington volleyball fell to Northern Colorado, 3-0. The Bears offense was efficient and the Eagles were not able to match their production. Eastern's record drops to 6-7 on the season. 

"We showed some good fight at times tonight and I thought we displayed some resilience in areas," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "We knew it was going to be a challenge against a strong team and tonight they got the better of us. We need to play better longer and we'll get back in the gym tomorrow and get to work."

Sage Brustad finished with a game-high 16 kills, hitting .190 on 42 attacks. Eastern was held to a .124 attack percentage.

The Eagles did not shy away from UNC in the first set, taking a 5-4 lead early. The score remained close, with nine ties and four lead changes. Eastern went ahead 12-11 on an ace from Brustad. The Bears then turned on their offense going on a 14-4 run to close the set out. UNC was up 1-0 after a 25-16 win in the opening set. 

In the second set, the Bears' offense continued to improve, hitting .317 and knocking in 15 kills. The Eagles hit .195 in the set with 14 kills to try and keep pace, but had six attack errors to UNC's two. It was another strong finish for the Bears, going on a 7-2 run to win the set, 25-18, and go up 2-0 in the game.

With the lead, UNC cruised in the third set, hitting .355 on the way to a 25-19 win. The Bears completed the sweep after holding EWU to .140 hitting. Brustad battled to keep the game going, accounting for seven of the team's 14 kills in the set. 

Eagle Notes

• Sage Brustad has now recorded double-digit kills in 11 of Eastern's 13 games this season. 
• Makenna Collins recorded her fifth-straight, double-digit dig game and has 11 this season. 
• Northern Colorado had a slight edge in blocking, getting 7.0 to 6.0 from Eastern. Erin McInnes, Sadie Bacon and Brustad each had two block assists.

Up Next
Eastern Washington returns home on Saturday (Sept. 23) to host Montana at Reese Court. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
 

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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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