Sports Briefs

VOLLEYBALL

Eastern wins Titan Classic title

After a historic opening weekend, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team (3-0) is prepping for its second weekend of competition at the UND Classic Aug. 30 – Sept. 1 in Grand Forks, N.D.

The Eagles open play against the hosts North Dakota on Thursday at 10 a.m. Friday includes two matches, beginning with Louisiana Tech at 8 a.m. and Western Carolina at 2 p.m. Classic play concludes on Saturday with a rematch against LA Tech at 8 a.m.

Eastern is 3-0 for the first time since the 2002 season after winning the Titan Classic to open the year last weekend (Aug. 24-25).

The Eagles were crowned the Titan Classic champions after opening the weekend with wins over University of Massachusetts-Lowell (3-0), Akron (3-1) and UC Riverside (3-1).

Eastern cruised to a three-set victory over UMass-owell to open the season. Freshman Kennedy Kaminsky led the Eagles in kills with 11 in her debut. MaKenna Davis led Eastern in digs with 14 and Samantha Boever had 35 assists.

Against Akron, Eastern dropped the second set but bounced back to take the match in four sets. They were led by Boever who turned in a double-double of 36 assists and 10 digs. Alexandra Espinosa led the team with a career-best of 15 kills.

EWU jumped out to a 2-0 lead against UC Riverside but dropped the next two sets before taking it in five. Three of the five sets were decided by two points. Espinosa set a new best 21 kills and Catelyn Linke had a career-high 33 digs. Boever turned in another double-double with 44 assists and 16 digs.

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SOCCER

Eagles top Grambling, tie South Dakota

The Eastern Washington University soccer team completed their week with a win and a tie with a 2-1 victory over Grambling EWU Soccer Field on Aug. 26.

The win followed a 1-1 tie on Aug. 24 with the University of South Dakota and saw the Eagles improve their nonleague record to 2-1-1.

The Eagles fell behind in the 13th minute against Grambling, but were able to come back after goals from Devan Talley and the game winner Allison Raniere in the 81st minute on an assist by freshman Mya Elder-Hammond.

Against South Dakota, the lone goal of the game came from senior Jenny Chavez in the 76th minute of play to tie the game. The goal was the 18th career goal for Chavez who now moves into third all-time in the EWU record book.

Eastern closes out a three-match home stand on Aug. 31 against Boise State at 4 p.m.

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CROSS COUNTRY

Eastern opens cross country season

The Eastern Washington University cross country teams start their seasons in Moscow, Idaho, Friday, Aug. 31 for the Clash of the Inland Northwest. The race is set to begin at 6 p.m. for the women and 6:30 for the men.

Last year at the event, the top finisher for the men was sophomore Colton Johnsen placing sixth with a time of 18:45.96. For the women, graduated senior Kari Hamilton-Scharnhorst placed sixth with a time with 14:33.68.

In the preseason coaches’ poll, the men and women were both picked to finish eighth in the Big Sky Conference this year. Both teams will have a very new look, as the women’s team is composed of only of three returning athletes from last year’s championship team, while the men return only two.