College volleyball: Confident Eastern off to fast start

If you ask Eastern Washington University interim volleyball coach Michael King what he can count on when the Eagles take the court, he won’t recite players’ names or a shiny statistic.

“Belief, self discipline and competitive fire,” King said. “We believe in ourselves and each other, our training and preparation, that’s what we believe in. Those things translate into our ability to concentrate on serve-receive and the pass game and run our offense.”

How’s that working out? Eastern, despite being picked eighth in the Big Sky preseason poll and undergoing a coaching change roughly a month ago, sits atop the North Division with a 6-0 record. The Eagles have swept North Dakota, Northern Colorado and Idaho, their three closest North pursuers. They’ve defeated Sacramento State and Southern Utah, two of six Big Sky teams with winning records.

EWU’s fast conference start is impressive considering the program has experienced its share of turbulence the last four years. Miles Kydd resigned four matches into the 2012 season and was replaced by interim coach Lisa Westlake. Wade Benson, who guided EWU to three Big Sky titles from 2000-06, returned to Cheney in 2013 but he’s had to step down each of the last two seasons, after being diagnosed with cancer. EWU went 24-67 from 2012-14.

“Wade and I go back 20 years,” King said. “We’ve coached together, we have very similar styles although there are differences for sure, but the core values and belief structure is certainly the same. There’s a really big trust factor and I’m grateful he’s still on staff (as a non-traveling assistant). (Assistant) Matt (Dyck) has definitely jumped in with both feet as well. We’re all on the same page.”

The Eagles appear to be surprising everyone but themselves. King said credit is widespread, from the coaching staff to players who understand and execute their roles to the leadership provided by seniors Allie Schumacher, Ana Jakovljevic, Ryann Ensrud and Alexis Wesley.

“We’ve stayed very consistent with the things we’re focusing on,” King said. “We measure and we manage and things get done.”

Schumacher leads the team in kills (171), Jakovljevic in aces (16), Ensrud in digs (165 digs) and Wesley in blocks (70). Sophomore Nicole Rigoni has a team-leading 385 assists and freshman Jessica Gilbert has contributed 112 kills and 44 blocks.

EWU ranks first in the conference in opponent hitting percentage and second in hitting percentage, blocks and digs. The Eagles probably haven’t convinced the rest of the conference they’re for real, with five of their six Big Sky wins coming at home and seven of 10 remaining matches on the road, beginning with Montana and Montana State this week.

“I still believe we’re an unproven product,” King said. “We can’t get too caught up in the wins and losses. We have to get caught up in getting better and making improvement.”

Cougs moving up

Washington State notched its second Pac-12 win, a 3-0 victory over No. 5 Arizona State on Sunday, to move into a tie for eighth. It was the Cougars’ first win over a ranked opponent in two years and their first sweep of a ranked foe since 2009.

WSU (13-5, 2-4), picked to finish last in the preseason poll, has already surpassed last year’s one conference win. The young Cougars – four freshmen and lone senior Kate Sommer were in the 10-player rotation against ASU – entertain Oregon State and Oregon this weekend.

“We’ll take a win any way we can get it but for some confidence for this team, we have been really close in a couple of matches and to come out and win in three was really important,” coach Jen Greeny said. “Hopefully we can carry this on to next weekend.”

Area roundup

Gonzaga (12-7, 3-3 WCC) visits No. 15 BYU on Thursday and San Diego on Saturday. San Diego, Santa Clara and BYU share first at 5-1. … Idaho, which squared its Big Sky record at 3-3 with a five-set wins over Portland State and Sacramento State, faces four consecutive road contests. … North Idaho College (13-11, 5-1), tied for first in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, entertains sixth-ranked Salt Lake on Friday and No. 2 Southern Idaho on Saturday. … Whitworth (12-6, 6-2) opens the second half of Northwest Conference schedule against visiting Pacific Lutheran on Friday and Puget Sound on Saturday. The Pirates dealt first-place Willamette (7-1) its only NWC loss. … Spokane (14-20, 6-3 NWAC) entertains East-leading Blue Mountain on Wednesday. SWX will televise the match.