EWU volleyball rallies past Montana - twice

CHENEY — With a pair of rallies from 0-2 set deficits, Eastern Washington’s volleyball team posted a sweep of Montana with 3-2 match wins Feb. 21 and 22 at Reese Court.

After losing 25-18 and 25-22, to open their Feb. 22 contest, the Eagles, behind a career-high 22 kills from Maya McClellan, rallied for 25-18, 25-22, 15-9 set wins that produced their first sweep of Montana since 2016 following their Sunday win (25-14, 12-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-7).

Eastern has won its last four matches at Reese Court, all by 3-2 scores and has four wins in their last six outings..

Besides McClellan, Ashlyn Blotzer (14) and Sage Brustad (11) also tallied double digit kills, while Catelyn Linke recorded a season-high 27 digs.

“We talk a lot about playing clean volleyball and capitalizing on our opportunities, and that’s what we were able to do in set five,” head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud said.

The fourth set was the pivot point in the Feb. 21 contest.

Eastern held a 22-17 advantage when the Grizzlies strung together three-straight points to cut the lead to 22-20. Both sides traded points to close the set, but a kill from Ana Paula Zandona was the deciding factor in the 25-22 win to tie the match and force the fifth set.

McClellan led the Eagles with a career-high 19 kills and had only five errors on 37 attempts. Brustad had 14 kills and just four errors on 33 attempts.

Eastern improved to 4-6 in Big Sky Conference to 5-6 overall and play. The Grizzlies drop to 1-9 both overall and in conference. Eastern resumes competition at Sacramento State March 6 and 7.

Paul Delaney is a retired former Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].