Eastern Tripped By Nau

Kim Exner made Big Sky Conference history, smashing the career kills record. But the Eastern Washington University volleyball team likely will remember Thursday as the night it blew a big opportunity before 1,121 spectators at Reese Court.

After pulling themselves out of a 2-0 hole in games, the Eagles dropped a conference match to Northern Arizona University 15-6, 16-14, 6-15, 2-15, 15-11.

They also saw a 6-3 lead slip away in the rally-scoring fifth game.

“It’s not just the fifth game, it shouldn’t have gone to a fifth game,” said Eagles coach Pamela Parks, whose team dropped to 8-2, 1-1 in conference matches, with first-place Sacramento State coming to Cheney on Saturday night.

The Eagles were fortunate to extend the match to five games against a team that has knocked them out of the conference post-season tournament the past two seasons.

After an uninspired first game, the Eagles played a close second game that was tied as late as 14-14. But an Exner block that sailed wide and a Mary Lines’ kill three points later gave the Lumberjacks a 2-0 lead.

The third game was all Eastern, as the Eagles jumped ahead 5-0. They also scored the final five points off Angie Hall’s serve.

The fourth game brought more streaks of five points at a time, including the final five points that leveled the match at 2-2.

Exner finished with a match-high 21 kills (.326 hitting). Her eighth kill - a tip in the second game - broke the conference kill record of 1,482.

Cate Weaver led the Lumberjacks (6-4, 2-1) with 16 kills.

Outside hitter junior Tiwi Bond of Sandpoint contributed seven kills for NAU. She had three kills in the fifth game. The Jacks scored the final three points in the match.

The University of Idaho began the Big West Conference season on the upside, sweeping New Mexico State 15-6, 15-7, 15-1 at Moscow, Idaho.

The Vandals (8-5, 1-0 Big West) hit a season-best .420 behind Jessica Moore’s and Anna Reznicek’s identical .538 hitting percentages.

“I knew we were going to play well tonight,” said Idaho coach Carl Ferreira, whose team lost to Washington State earlier this week. “I think we’ve been playing well, but not finishing things. Tonight, though, was a complete effort.”

Idaho’s Beth Craig had a match-high 16 kills. Moore added nine kills and Reznicek had eight.

The Roadrunners (3-9, 0-1), losers of six straight matches to Idaho, managed a .176 hitting percentage.

At Phoenix, the Community Colleges of Spokane split its matches at the Valley of the Sun Tournament. The Sasquatch beat East Arizona 11-15, 15-3, 15-6 behind Cyndy Edmunds’ and Adrianne Edmonds’ seven kills each.

CCS lost to Scottsdale 15-6, 15-4. Angel Fairbanks led the Sasquatch with six kills.

In other tournament play, Mesa College defeated North Idaho College 13-15, 16-14, 15-9. The Cardinals are 11-7.