Sports Briefs

FOOTBALL

Sblendorio earns pair of awards

A near record-breaking performance by wide receiver Nic Sblendorio earned him an honor on Sunday (Nov. 19), but earlier in the day the Eastern Washington University football team was dealt a shocking blow when it was not selected to play in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. 

Eastern wrapped up a 7-4 finish overall and 6-2 record in league play with a 59-33 romp over Portland State on Saturday, a game in which the senior caught nine passes for 273 yards and a pair of scores. As a result, College Sports Madness picked him as its Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week. 

Sblendorio came just two yards from the EWU record of 275 set by Cooper Kupp in 2015 at Northern Colorado. Kupp had 274 yards versus UC Davis in his senior season in 2016 for the Roos Field record. 

A 2013 graduate of Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash., Sblendorio had his fourth 100-yard receiving performance in his career, including a 60-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter and a 74-yard TD in the third. His previous high was 189 yards earlier this season versus Montana. 

He closed the 2017 season with 72 catches to rank 16th in school history, with 912 yards and five scores. In his 49-game career (20 as a starter), he caught 151 passes to rank 15th in school history for 1,990 yards and 11 scores.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Eastern loses tourney opener in Vegas

Eagle head coach Shantay Legans knew Georgia State was going to be a handful for his road-weary team, and a valiant defensive effort in the first half and game-ending 11-1 run by EWU wasn’t enough. 

After holding the Panthers in check for much of the first half, Georgia State went on runs of 17-4 in the first half and 9-0 to open the second half and defeated the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team 68-50 Nov. 20 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of the fourth-annual MGM Resorts Main Event. 

“Defensively I thought we did a great job in the first half of switching up our defenses,” Legans said. “But after a while and you don’t score, guys start hanging their heads.” 

Redshirt freshman Jacob Davison scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Eagles, who began their road trip on Nov. 11. He scored 18 of his points in the second half as EWU ended the game with an 11-1 run that was too little too late.

Now 2-3 on the season, the Eagles will played Eastern Kentucky in the consolation game on Nov. 22. Prairie View defeated Eastern Kentucky 80-70 in Monday’s other first-round game of the “middleweight” bracket.

The Eagles lost to UNLV 91-76 on Nov. 17 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Bogdan Bliznyuk led Eastern with 16 points, and Davison chipped in a career-high 11.

Eastern continues its 10-game road trip at Pac-12 Utah, Friday, Nov. 24.

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Eagles fall to BYU 73-69

In a great battle at Reese Court on Friday, Nov. 17, the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team came up just short against the visiting Brigham Young Cougars, falling by a final score of 73-69.

 Both Violet Kapri Morrow and Uriah Howard led the Eagles in double figures, setting new career highs. Morrow posted 25 points and led the team with 11 rebounds for her first career double-double, while Howard added 17 points and was 4-7 behind the arc.

Delaney Hodgins was held to just seven points in a night when the opponents found a defensive answer to the Eagles’ senior leader.

 “I thought our effort was the best it’s been, we have to play that hard all the time,” head coach Wendy Schuller said. “I thought we played hard, it wasn’t great and smart all of the time, but we played hard and that makes up for a lot. In a lot of ways, we did some really good things.”

BYU took a commanding lead in the fourth quarter as they used a 12-0 run, hitting five out of six field goals. They were able to hold EWU scoreless for over four minutes, and made it to the line several times, hitting 12 out of 15 free throws. Eastern turned the ball over six times, but worked to stay alive as Howard hit a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to come within three points. However, it wasn’t enough to spark EWU’s offense as they fell by a score of 73-69.

With the loss, Eastern Washington falls to 1-2 on the season, while the Cougars improve to 2-1. Eastern played at Oregon Nov. 21.

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VOLLEYBALL

Cheney’s Seiler earns BSC honors

Eastern Washington University and former Cheney High School volleyball player Ashley Seiler’s career is ending on a high note as she was selected to the All-Big Sky second team for the first time in her career, the conference office announced Nov. 16.

Seiler is the first All-Big Sky second team selection for EWU since Kelsey Julian in 2014. 

Seiler recently wrapped up her final year on the squad at Eastern, leading the Big Sky with 3.98 kills per set for most of the season. Her kills and attacks per set (11.86) also ranked among the top 50 across Division I all season long.

 Seiler led the team in kills in 22 of 25 matches this season, compiling double digits in 20 of those. Seiler also had over 20 kills in five matches, including a career-high 28 in EWU’s come-from-behind victory against Binghamton on Aug. 25.

 Seiler transferred from Casper College following the 2015 season. In her two years, she appeared in 59 matches for the Eagles and compiled 524 kills.

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