OGDEN, Utah – The Eastern Washington University volleyball team battled Weber State for the second day in a row (Jan. 23) in Ogden, Utah. The Eagles had two players earn double-doubles and three reach double-digit kills while hitting at a .255 clip as a team, but fell in four sets (20-25, 25-21, 17-25, 22-25).
Ka’ehukaiiha’amaina’e Keala and Katie Fleck each had 15 kills, while Sage Brustad followed closely with 12. Keala also earned a double-double with a career-best 16 digs, joining Lindsey Russell who had 50 assists and 13 digs in her first career start.
Catelyn Linke totaled 21 digs and moved into 10th all-time in EWU history for career digs with 978 total.
“That was a phenomenal game that could’ve gone either way. Ehu jumped in and played six rotations, which is huge for us. She has been a sophomore that we have definitely talked about playing six rotations, and she did that tonight and did a wonderful job. Katie Fleck hitting .400 as a pin is also incredible,” said head coach Leslie Flores-Cloud. “Lindsey Russell came in and set a great offense for us tonight and she’s only been in our gym for a few weeks and is still working on connections with her hitters and she did a good job of throwing Weber’s defense off.”
Trailing 11-9 in the first set, Fleck came up with a kill followed by back-to-back points from Keala to take a 12-11 lead. Weber State would answer back, and built a 21-16 lead. The Eagles wouldn’t back down, as a 4-0 spurt that included two kills and a block from Renata Lopez Morales put the Eagles within a point, 21-20. The surge came up short though, as the Wildcats claimed the final four points to take set one, 25-20.
EWU’s best set came in the second frame as they hit .324 with 16 kills and five errors of 34 total attempts. Eastern Washington worked to build a 12-7 lead, but the sides would go point-for-point with neither team able to lead by more than two points. That was until a 3-0 run by the Eagles helped them pull ahead 22-18. Weber State would threaten and made it a 23-21 match, but back-to-back kills from Brustad helped EWU claim the second set, 25-21, and even the match.
EWU held a 14-13 lead in the third set when Weber State exploded on an 8-0 run to lead 21-14 and they claimed the set 25-17.
Set four was closely contested with each side trading points to wind up in a 13-13 tie. Weber State broke away following a 5-0 run to lead 18-13, but EWU responded right away thanks to Fleck who delivered two kills and a block for a 3-0 run to come within two points, 18-16. Down 24-20, Eastern Washington fought off set point twice once again following kills from Brustad and Fleck, but the Wildcats had the final say and won set four 25-22 and the match 3-1.