Eagles volleyball splits with Idaho

CHENEY – Eastern Washington University's volleyball team split their match up last week with Idaho, dropping a five-set heartbreaker on Friday but avenging the defeat 24 hours later with a 3-1 win over the visiting Vandals.

Friday found the Eagles leading Idaho 2-1 and up 24-15 in the fourth, only to watch the Vandals stage a furious rally for the win and then the match. Eastern rolled in the first two sets, winning the first 25-15 with runs of 8-0 and 9-1 and the second 25-19, getting eight straight points to turn a 9-9 tie into a 19-10 lead.

Idaho stayed alive in set three by tallying 15 kills and only two service errors on 36 total attempts, finding momentum for most of the set for the 25-17 to keep their match-win hopes alive.

The Eagles led 24-15 in the fourth set and appeared headed for match point, only to have Idaho fight that off nine times to tie the set 24-24. After a kill by Eastern's Sage Brustad, snapped that run, the Vandals found three more points for a 27-25 win.

In the fifth and deciding set, a 6-1 Vandals scoring run put them up 8-4 and the Eagles could never find their footing, dropping set five 15-10 and the match 3-2.

Freshman Katie Fleck led the Eagles with 14 kills, hitting .281 with five errors on 32 total attempts to go with two solo blocks. Alisha Straw led the team in digs with 16, Puaoolelagi Sao served up five of the team's nine aces and had seven digs and Ana Paula Zandona delivered 37 assists and tallied eight digs.

Eastern Washington hit at a .186 clip with 49 kills, 22 errors and 145 total attempts while the Vandals hit .201 with 59 kills, 27 errors and 159 total attempts.

Eastern was edged in blocks, 7-to-5, but had nine service aces to UI's eight. The Eagles were out-dug 65-to-57 and Idaho had 55 assists to Eastern's 43.

It was a different story for Eastern Washington the next day. This time, the Eagles withstood Idaho charges, winning a back-and-forth affair 29-31, 25-22, 25-18 and 26-24 - snapping an eight-match losing streak against the Vandals on Senior Day at Reese Court.

After dropping a first set that saw 15 ties and seven lead changes, the Eagles used a 6-0 run to jump to an 8-2 lead in the second, stretching that to 17-9. Two Idaho 3-0 runs pulled them within 24-21 before the Eagles got a Vandals service error to win the set.

Idaho burst to a 6-1 lead in the third set, but with freshman Ellie Garrett serving, the Eagles used a 7-0 run to overtake them and mount a 9-7 lead. Eventually the teams tied at 15, at which point Eastern got a 10-3 run down the stretch for the win.

The fourth set was also close, featuring 11 ties and four lead changes. Idaho used a 5-0 to open a 19-16 margin, and eventually led 23-20 before the Eagles tied it again at 23. The Vandals went up 24-23, and were poised for the win when Eastern's Ka'ehukaiiha'amaina'e Keala smashed consecutive kills followed by a kill from Maya McClellan for the set and match win. 

"Our team is very good, and I don't tell them that very often," head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud said. "We talked about going and getting the things that you want. Yesterday, we hoped that Idaho would make an error nine times and they didn't. Tonight, it was all about if you want something, go take it.,

Senior Catelyn Linke tallied a season-high 29 digs to go with three service aces and Ashlyn Blotzer led the way with 16 kills while hitting .421 with no attack errors on 38 attempts.

Zandona and Garrett split setting duties, recording 35 and 15 assists respectively. Linke led the team in aces with three and digs with 29.

The Eagles hit .256 on the day with 59 kills and 19 errors on 156 total attempts. Idaho hit .221 with 56 kills and 22 errors on 154 total attempts. 

EWU out-blocked Idaho, who leads the conference in blocks per set, 8-to-6. They also out-dug the Vandals 63-to-56 and had nine aces to UI's eight. EWU was slightly edged in assists, 54 to 51. Idaho had 10 service errors and Eastern had six.

Eastern Washington improves to 6-9 overall and 5-9 in Big Sky play. Idaho falls to 6-8 overall with a 5-7 mark in conference action.

The Eagles close the regular season at Southern Utah on Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20. First serve is set for 6 p.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time, respectively, on Pluto TV Ch. 1055.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].