CHENEY, Wash. -- After winning the first two sets handily, Sacramento State dropped the final three frames, including 15-12 in the fifth set, while falling to Eastern Washington, 3-2 (15-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-12), in a Big Sky Conference volleyball contest Thursday evening at Reese Court.
The match marked the conference opener for both teams, and beginning tonight, each of the final 20 matches of the regular season for Sacramento State will be against a league opponent.
The Hornets hit .323 and .435 in the first two sets, respectively, before dropping off substantially in the final three sets with hitting percentages of -.026, .227 and .080. In that fifth set, Sacramento State had just five kills and three errors in 25 total attacks. The Eagles had a pair of team blocks in the frame and seemed to get their hands on a number of Hornet attacks at the net, slowing the ball enough to keep in play. EWU had nine kills, including four from Allie Schumacher, who finished with four kills, a .429 hitting percentage and five digs in the set.
The Eagles never trailed in the final set, opening up a lead as large as 9-3 before the Hornets tied things at 9-9 after going on a 6-0 run. That's when Schumacher took over, tallying four kills during a 6-3 run to close the set and match.
The Hornets had an 18-17 lead in the fourth set, but the Eagles closed that frame on 8-2 run.
With the loss, Sacramento State dropped to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in the conference. The Hornets travel to Portland on Saturday to take on Portland State at 7 p.m. The Vikings were selected to finish first in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll. With tonight's victory, Eastern Washington improved to 4-8 overall and 1-0 in the Big Sky.
Statistically speaking, the match was nearly even between the two teams in kills, hitting percentage, assists and aces, but the Eagles did hold an advantage in digs (72-65) and team blocks (12.0-8.0).
For Sacramento State, freshman Morgan Stanley (15), sophomore Sloan Lovett (14) and senior Kayla Beal (14) each recorded double figures in kills. Beal, who missed the previous three matches with a back injury, returned tonight to record nine digs, two blocks and a .243 hitting percentage to go along with the 14 kills. Lovett also had 12 digs for her second double-double of the season, and Stanley hit .273.
Freshman Courtney Dietrich had seven kills, two blocks and a season-best .500 hitting percentage (7-2-10), setter Hannah Hettinga added 46 assists, two aces and 14 digs, and libero Katie Aprile had a team-high 18 digs. All but four of Sacramento State's 54 kills came from Stanley, Lovett, Beal or Dietrich.
For Eastern Washington, Schumacher finished with a match-high 24 kills to go along with 11 digs and a .333 hitting percentage. Melissa Waelter chipped in 14 kills and Ryann Ensrud led all players with 22 digs.

April 8, 2014
VOLLEYBALL RELEASES ITS 2014 SCHEDULE

January 27, 2014
SACRAMENTO STATE EARNS 22 FALL BIG SKY ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS

January 24, 2014
VOLLEYBALL ADDS DIV. I TRANSFER AND LOCAL PRODUCT MADELINE CANNON

November 30, 2013
VOLLEYBALL'S HOME WINNING STREAK NAMED BIG SKY'S 16TH GREATEST MOMENT

November 28, 2013
VOLLEYBALL’S BEAL NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG SKY

November 23, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOSES IN FIVE, ELIMINATED FROM BIG SKY TOURNAMENT CONTENTION

November 21, 2013
VOLLEYBALL ONE STEP CLOSER TO PLAYOFF SPOT AFTER WIN AT MONTANA STATE

November 20, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO GRAB PLAYOFF SPOT IN FINAL WEEK OF REGULAR SEASON

November 18, 2013
VOLLEYBALL SIGNS BOYLE, BROWN AND KURTZ TO LETTERS OF INTENT

November 16, 2013
VOLLEYBALL PICKS UP HUGE WIN, CRUSHES WEBER STATE

November 15, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO IDAHO STATE, WILL PLAY HOME FINALE TOMORROW

November 14, 2013
FORMER HORNET LINDSAY HAUPT NAMED THE BIG SKY'S 19TH BEST FEMALE ATHLETE

November 14, 2013
FINAL HOMESTAND FOR VOLLEYBALL WITH POSTSEASON IMPLICATIONS ON TAP

November 11, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS AT NORTHERN COLORADO, STILL CLINGS TO A PLAYOFF SPOT

November 9, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS IN THREE AT NORTH DAKOTA

October 31, 2013
WINNING STREAK AT FOUR AS VOLLEYBALL BEATS SOUTHERN UTAH

October 30, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO INCREASE WINNING STREAK THIS WEEK ON THE ROAD

October 26, 2013
HOME COURT KIND AGAIN AS VOLLEYBALL BEATS EASTERN WASHINGTON

October 25, 2013
VOLLEYBALL SECURES HUGE HOME VICTORY OVER PORTLAND STATE

October 23, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS A PAIR OF LEAGUE MATCHES THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

October 19, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HITS SEASON-HIGH .398 IN FOUR-SET WIN OVER MONTANA STATE

October 18, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS AT HOME TO MONTANA

October 12, 2013
VOLLEYBALL NOW 4-4 IN CONFERENCE PLAY AFTER LOSS AT IDAHO STATE

October 11, 2013
VOLLEYBALL PICKS UP FIVE-SET ROAD WIN AT WEBER STATE

October 9, 2013
VOLLEYBALL TRAVELS TO MATCHUPS AT WEBER STATE AND IDAHO STATE

October 3, 2013
VOLLEYBALL WINS FIVE-SET NAIL BITER OVER NORTHERN COLORADO

October 2, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO EXTEND WINNING STREAK THIS WEEK AT HOME

September 28, 2013
VOLLEYBALL DOMINATES SOUTHERN UTAH IN THREE QUICK SETS

September 27, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HITS FOR HIGH PERCENTAGE, DEFEATS NORTHERN ARIZONA

September 26, 2013
VOLLEYBALL BEGINS HOMESTAND WITH MATCHES FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT

September 21, 2013
VOLLEYBALL DROPS BIG SKY MATCHUP AT PORTLAND STATE

September 19, 2013
VOLLEYBALL LOSES FIVE-SET HEARTBREAKER TO EWU IN BIG SKY OPENER

September 18, 2013
VOLLEYBALL OPENS BIG SKY PLAY THURSDAY AT EASTERN WASHINGTON

September 14, 2013
VOLLEYBALL CONCLUDES TOURNAMENT WITH LOSS TO BOISE STATE

September 13, 2013
LOVETT’S 14 KILLS NOT ENOUGH IN VOLLEYBALL’S LOSS TO IDAHO

September 13, 2013
VOLLEYBALL OPENS TOURNAMENT WITH LOSS TO NORTH TEXAS

September 10, 2013
VOLLEYBALL TRAVELS TO UC DAVIS TONIGHT, BOISE STATE LATER THIS WEEK

September 10, 2013
VOLLEYBALL FALLS AT UC DAVIS

September 6, 2013
VOLLEYBALL STUMBLES AT HOME AGAINST SAN JOSE STATE

September 4, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS 11TH-ANNUAL SACRAMENTO STATE INVITATIONAL

September 2, 2013
LOVETT CAPS BIG WEEK WITH BIG SKY VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

September 1, 2013
LOVETT WITH A HUGE DAY, VOLLEYBALL NOW 3-0 AFTER WIN OVER LA SALLE


August 28, 2013
VOLLEYBALL BEGINS 2013 SEASON ON SATURDAY IN PHILADELPHIA

August 23, 2013
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS ALUMNI MATCH THIS SATURDAY

August 22, 2013
2013 VOLLEYBALL SEASON OUTLOOK