CHENEY, Wash. – Eastern Washington battled throughout the night but ultimately fell to Nevada in four sets (23-25, 23-25, 25-21, 26-28). After dropping two tightly contested opening sets, the Eagles found their rhythm in the third and pushed the Wolf Pack deep into extra points in the fourth.
Kalista Lukovich powered the Eastern offense with a career-high 28 kills, surpassing her previous career best of 24 set last season against Seattle U. The senior finished one kill shy of reaching 1,000 for her career.
Sidney Gray provided another spark for the Eagles, particularly over the final two sets, while Eastern finished with 12 total blocks compared to six for Nevada.
"We're clearly not pleased with the result," head coach
Jon Haruguchi said. "It took us some time at the beginning of the match to start doing the things we've been working on in practice. Once we started executing the game plan, we saw some really positive things. I'm pleased with that; I just wish we could have gotten there a little sooner."
Eastern dropped the opening set, 25-23, despite building a 16-11 advantage and later extending its lead to 19-14. Nevada rallied late, tying the set at 23 before scoring the final two points to take the early advantage.
The Eagles came out firing in the second, jumping ahead 7-1 behind back-to-back service aces from
Aspyn Reed and three early kills from Lukovich. Eastern maintained its advantage for much of the frame before Nevada rallied again. The Eagles erased a late 23-20 deficit to tie the set at 23, but the Wolf Pack once again claimed the final two points for a 25-23 win.
Eastern responded in the third, using a 6-0 run to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 12-8 advantage. Lukovich fueled the offense while
Judith Bolomboy delivered consecutive service aces. With the score tied at 20 late in the set, Lukovich recorded a kill before Gray followed with a solo block. The Eagles closed out the frame, 25-21, to force a fourth.
"I think when I stuck with the game plan and trusted my training, things started working," Lukovich said. "Taking risks in practice allowed me to start taking risks in the game and be confident it was going to work. Our block also started coming alive, and that forced them to give us some free opportunities."
The Eagles carried that momentum into the fourth, overcoming an early 8-5 deficit to build a 20-14 advantage. Nevada answered with a late run and eventually tied the set at 23. The teams traded points into extras, with Gray delivering kills at 24-23 and 26-26, before Nevada scored the final two points to secure the 28-26 win.
"Our athletes take pride in being a good blocking team," Haruguchi said. "That wasn't quite there in the first two sets, but it started to pick up toward the end. We're really close, and usually we can generate a few points from our block. That's probably what we were missing early."
Lukovich also credited her connection with setter
Jailyn Davenport, who finished with 43 assists.
"We're super close, and we're each other's accountability buddies," Lukovich said. "We know how to bring out that fire, trust and confidence in each other. I can tell her to set me the ball and I'll put it away, and she can tell me she's going to set me and needs me to put it away. Having that relationship with your setter is huge."
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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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