CHENEY, Wash.— Eastern Washington volleyball could not utilize its home court advantage Saturday, falling to Montana 3-0 at Reese Court. The Eagles fall to 0-2 in the Big Sky and 6-8 on the season overall.

On offense, the Grizzlies hit .304 for the match, while Eastern was held to a .183 average. Sadie Bacon led Eastern with 10 kills, hitting .381 on 21 total attacks. 

"It was a really tough loss. Montana came in and played exceptionally well. Hats off to them," head coach Jon Haruguchi said. "They exposed some things that we know we need to keep working on. It is a good blueprint for what to work on in our practices as we prepare for Idaho St. and Weber St. next week. Despite our performance, I felt like there were opportunities for us to take those sets and we just missed them. We need to watch the film, identify those times and get better."

Montana created separation in the first set, hitting a staggering .467 against Eastern. The Grizzlies opened with a 1-0 lead following a 25-20 victory in set one. Sage Brustad kept the Eagles in the set with four kills, but the team only hit .162. 

The Grizzlies carried over the momentum in the second set, still hitting well with a .300 percentage. After leading 18-8, Eastern responded and reeled Montana back in. The Eagles cut the lead to 24-22 with kills and a block from Bacon and Brustad. The Grizzlies managed to get the set point and won 25-22 to go up 2-0 in the game. 

Moving to the third set, Montana again jumped out to an early lead, going up 11-7. Eastern continued to fight and cut the lead down to one at 20-19 following a kill from Tanai Jenkins. Despite the effort, the Grizzlies held on, winning the set 25-21 and the game, 3-0. 

Eagle Notes

• Eastern was aggressive at the service line, recording six aces with eight errors. Montana had four aces and eight errors. Kate Hatch led the Eagles with two aces.
• Tanai Jenkins set a career-high with seven kills and hit .500, committing only one attack error. She added two block assists in the game as well. 
• At the net, Eastern edged the Grizzlies 6.0 to 5.0. Sadie Bacon led the team with three block assists, while Erin McInnes had one solo and one block assist.

Up Next
Eastern Washington gets back on the road next week to play Idaho State (Sept. 28) and Weber State (Sept. 30).
 

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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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