Sports Briefs

Eagles prep for basketball season

opener after exhibition win over UPS

Five players scored in double figures – including one player Eagle fans probably won’t see this season – as the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team defeated Puget Sound 89-55 Nov. 9 in an exhibition game at Reese Court.

Guard Cody Benzel, who is expected to redshirt this season, hit his first five three-point attempts and finished with 15 points for the Eagles. He is a freshman out of Spokane’s Ferris High School.

Eastern outscored the NCAA Division III team from Tacoma 51-23 in the second half.

Besides Benzel, other Eagles in double figures included Tyler Harvey (16), Venky Jois (13), Ognjen Miljkovic (14) and Felix Von Hofe (11).

Now the Eagles become the first Division I college team in the country to play basketball when they host Texas Southern University to 8 a.m. at Reese Court.

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EWU women open season on road

The Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team kicks off its 2014-15 season with a road game at Utah Valley this Friday, Nov. 14, in Orem, Utah.

EWU returns four starters from last year’s team that won 16 games and finished in fourth place in the Big Sky Conference, earning a trip to the league tournament for a fifth consecutive season.

This season is the start of head coach Wendy Schuller’s 14th season leading the Eastern program. Already EWU’s all-time NCAA Division I wins leader, she became the program’s longest-tenured Division I head coach last season, surpassing Eastern Bill Smithpeters, who led the Eagles for 12 years from 1982-83 to 1993-94.

The Eagles return home Tuesday, Nov. 18 to face Wichita State at 6 p.m.

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EWU volleyball chases playoff spot

as regular season closes at home

Still in the running for a spot in the Big Sky Conference Tournament, the Eastern Washington University women’s volleyball team will close out its regular season with a pair of league matches this week at Reese Court.

Eastern opens the week against Northern Colorado, Thursday, Nov. 13, followed by North Dakota, Saturday, Nov. 15. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.

Despite suffering defeats at Northern Arizona and Idaho this past week, EWU (9-18, 5-9 BSC) remains in the hunt for one of the eight bids to the upcoming conference tournament. The Eagles are tied for eighth place in the league standings with Southern Utah.

Montana and Portland State are the other two teams best positioned to make the tournament as they currently sit tied for sixth.

Idaho State has clinched the right to host the tournament while North Dakota, Idaho, Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado have secured berths.

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Eagles fall 3-2 in soccer playoff

Facing a two-goal deficit late in its first appearance at the Big Sky Conference Tournament in five seasons, the sixth-seeded Eastern Washington University women’s soccer team saw its comeback effort fall just short as No. 3 Northern Arizona hung on to win, 3-2, Thursday, Nov. 6, at Montana’s South Campus Stadium.

Northern Arizona followed with 2-1 wins over Portland State, Nov. 7 and punched their ticket to the NCAA College Cup with a 2-1 win in the Big Sky Conference Championship over Idaho State, Sunday.

The Eagles’ Cassie Black tied the contest 1-1 in the 20th sminute. NAU would score the next two goals before Savannah Hoekstra connected for Eastern in the 83rd minute to close it to 3-2.

The Eagles seemed poised to complete their comeback, getting a handful of looks at NAU’s goal along with a dangerous free kick at the top of the Lumberjacks’ box.