SPOKANE, Wash. – Eastern Washington outlasted Oral Roberts in five sets, 3-2 (26-24, 25-13, 19-25, 23-25, 15-9), to earn its fourth straight win and improve to 4-0 on the season, the Eagles' best start since 2002.
Kalista Lukovich led Eastern with her second double-double of the season, finishing with 19 kills and 12 digs.
Aspyn Reed added 14 kills, while
Jailyn Davenport recorded 29 assists. Eastern totaled 17 blocks, led by
Sidney Gray with six, while Davenport and
Judith Bolomboy each added five.
Elle Bruegman anchored the back row with 23 digs.
"We're still working through a few things," said head coach
Jon Haruguchi. "When we do get pushed back from another team like that, we can't let it get out of control. Calm ourselves, center ourselves, be where our feet are, and then trust our training."
Eastern battled through a tightly contested opening set, taking a 26-24 win. The Eagles jumped ahead 5-1 behind a pair of Lukovich kills and held the advantage for much of the frame. Oral Roberts rallied to tie the set at 18, but Eastern responded and eventually moved ahead 22-18 behind a Bolomboy solo block. ORU battled back to tie it again at 24 before a Lukovich kill and Golden Eagles attack error gave Eastern the set.
The Eagles carried the momentum into the second, cruising to a 25-13 win. Eastern broke open a 4-3 advantage with a 5-0 run before an 8-0 run behind Bruegman at the service line extended the lead to 17-5. Reed recorded five kills in the frame, while Davenport capped the set with an ace.
Lukovich and Reed combined for 33 kills in the match.
"That's a big thing that we focus on all the time because in our league, in the Big Sky, that's where a lot of the points are scored," Haruguchi said. "We have to continue to work with those two on how to score and different ways to score."
Oral Roberts responded in the third, taking a 25-19 win. Eastern erased an early 3-0 deficit and later moved ahead 15-14, but ORU answered with three straight points and pulled away late to extend the match.
The Golden Eagles then forced a fifth set with a 25-23 win in the fourth. Eastern trailed 19-15 before battling back to tie the frame at 20. After ORU regained a 23-20 advantage, kills from Lukovich and Reed, along with a
Jade Livingston ace, tied the set at 23. Oral Roberts responded with the final two points to even the match.
Eastern took control early in the fifth, jumping ahead 9-3 behind strong play at the net. ORU cut the advantage to 10-7 before Lukovich stopped the run with a kill.
Erin McInnes provided a late spark off the bench, recording a kill before combining with Gray for the match-clinching block in the 15-9 win.
"That's a really hard job, and hats off to Erin because she's been standing there for two hours and then comes in and makes a couple of really nice plays," Haruguchi said. "She got a kill, got a stuff block. I'm super stoked for her."
Eastern returns to action Friday, Sept. 4, against Cal State Fullerton at 2:30 p.m.
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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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