Sports Briefs

Eagles’ soccer streak ends in Missoula

It took 108 minutes and double overtime to end Eastern Washington University’s eight game soccer wining streak, 2-1 last Friday, Oct. 8 to the University of Montana in Missoula.

Allie Lucas of the Grizzlies scored off of a flurry of shots for the winner as the Eagles drop to 10-2-1 overall and 4-1-0 in Big Sky Conference play while the Grizzlies improve their record to 5-7-2 overall and 2-2-1 in conference play.

After Montana scored in the 16th minute of play, Eastern evened the score off of a corner kick in the 36th minute by Chloe Williams and a header from Jenny Chavez to score.

“Today was a disappointing result for us,” head coach Chad Bodnar said.”We fought for 108 minutes, and its hard to see road points slip away with two minutes left.”

Eastern will play its next two games at home against Northern Arizona on Friday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. and Southern Utah on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.

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Eastern volleyball stays unbeaten

Off to its best start to Big Sky Conference play in 12 years, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team will begin a four-match road trip with contests at Montana State and Montana this week.

EWU will square off with the Bobcats this Thursday, Oct. 15, before taking on the Grizzlies this Saturday, Oct. 17. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.

Eastern (11-6, 6-0 BSC) picked up a pair of league wins this past week, topping both Sacramento State and Portland State in four sets at Reese Court. The Eagles have not started conference play with six straight victories since the 2003 season when they won their first 11 Big Sky matches.

Individually, senior Ryann Ensrud ranks third in digs per set (4.81 d/s) in conference play and has notched at least 20 digs in three of Eastern’s last four matches. Classmate Ana Jakovljevic has put down double-digit kills in the Eagles’ last four contests and is averaging 3.29 kills per set in Big Sky contests to rank eighth.

Winners of seven straight heading into this week, EWU has upped its play in league action, pacing the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.136) while ranking second in hitting percentage (.244), blocks per set (2.60 b/s) and digs per set (16.19 d/s).

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