Eagles find way home for Big Sky openers
After traveling roughly 4,700 air miles the last three weeks, Eastern Washington University volleyball players will be able to walk to their next two matches.
The Eagles open their Big Sky Conference season at home with visits from Weber State on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Idaho State on Saturday at 1 p.m. – the earlier time to avoid a conflict with the EWU football team’s 6:05 home game against UC Davis.
“We’ve had quite the preseason, we really did,” interim head coach Irene Matlock said. “It’s going to be so nice to play at home with our crowd.”
The Eagles went 1-8 at three preconference tournaments, including last weekend’s venture to Honolulu against two ranked foes (Hawaii and Santa Clara) and Wichita State, which is on the verge of cracking the Top 25. EWU returned with three losses and didn’t get its luggage until Monday afternoon, but several positives emerged.
“What I’ve learned so far is we have it in us to play with these high-caliber teams,” Matlock said. “The first game against Hawaii was 31-29 and we had an opportunity to win that game. Then we kind of lost our way, usually in those second games, and came back in the third games. In our last match against Wichita State, there was finally a calm on the court instead of an anxious feeling going on.”
Sophomore outside hitter Hayley Hills earned all-tournament recognition at all three tournaments.
Cougars healing
Washington State (9-2) has one more tournament this weekend before entering Pac-10 play. The Cougars are at the University of Denver Pioneer Classic. They’ll face the host school as well as 17th-ranked Ohio and Long Beach State, which is receiving votes.
The Cougars went 2-1 at Nevada’s AT&T Invitational last week, playing without senior outside hitter Adetokunbo Faleti, who has a knee injury.
“I didn’t want to put her on a plane or a bus,” coach Brian Heffernan said. “In the short term, it’s probably not the greatest thing for our program, but I knew if she went I’d be so tempted to play her.”
Vandals begin WAC play
Idaho (3-6) brings a two-match winning streak into its WAC opener Friday against No. 15 Hawaii (6-3) in Honolulu.
“The preconference season was everything we expected with four top 30 teams and three in the top 25,” Vandals coach Debbie Buchanan said. “Our team has continued to learn and we were put through some situations where they’ve had to respond. I feel like we’ve gotten better and we’re going to still be learning as we go through this.”
Outside hitter Haley Larsen had 63 kills and 32 digs to spark victories over UC Davis and San Francisco last weekend and was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week.
Larsen’s 35 kills against UC Davis were one short of the school record she set against San Jose State in 2005. Only Charlotte’s Cori Dayton, who had 37 kills against Eastern Michigan, has more kills in a match nationally this season.
Quick sets
Whitworth (5-3) begins Northwest Conference play with home games against Pacific on Friday and George Fox on Saturday. … Community Colleges of Spokane is off to an 11-1 start, with the loss a five-game decision to Columbia Basin. CCS is the only area team with a league match under its belt – a four-game NWAACC victory over Big Bend last week. … Former Coeur d’Alene Viking Jenna (Griffitts) Leggat returns to the region when Weber State visits EWU. The sophomore outside hitter is fifth on the team with 36 kills and tied for third with 16 blocks.