SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Eastern Washington defeated Montana, 3-2 (15-7, 13-15,

9-15, 15-10, 15-12), and Montana State defeated Cal State Northridge, 3-1

(14-16, 15-11, 15-3, 15-12), in the first round of the Big Sky Volleyball

Tournament Thursday evening in Hornet Gym. With the victories, both the

Eagles and Bobcats advanced to the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 17, while

Montana and Cal State Northridge were eliminated.

Eastern Washington, which entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, will

face No. 2 Northern Arizona Friday at 5 p.m., while No. 4 Montana State

will square off with No. 1 Sacramento State at 7:30 p.m. Both the

Lumberjacks and Hornets had first-round byes.

In the early match, Eastern Washington's Angie Hall finished with a

match-high 18 kills while Tamara Van Engelen (14), Jennifer Gabel (13) and

Monica Lynch (12) also finished with double-figure kills for the Eagles.

EWU held the advantage in kills (85-67), assists (78-60) and total attempts

(231-197). The Grizzlies were led by Erin Adams and Kodi Taylor who each

recorded 14 kills while Lindsay Kaiser chipped in 13 in the losing effort.

Eastern Washington took the first game relatively easily after jumping out

to an early 6-0 lead. Montana could get no closer than two points the rest

of the way as the Eagles hit .429 in the game. In game two, Eastern

Washington held an early 10-5 advantage until the Grizzlies ran off 10 of

the next 13 points. With the score knotted at 13-13, two-consecutive Eagle

hitting errors ended the game.

In the third frame, Eastern Washington never had a lead as Montana gained

the upper hand early by hitting .314 and limiting the Eagles to .190. Game

four saw the Grizzlies take a 7-5 advantage until the Eagles ran off 10 of

the next 15 points to gain back the momentum in the match.

With the score tied, 11-11, in the final game, Eastern Washington scored

four of the last five points including the final two on Hall kills to

secure the victory.

In the second match of the night, Montana State tied the Big Sky Tournament

single-match record (four games) with 72 kills as Anne Watts led all

players with 28. Stephanie Laya (18) and Karin Lundqvist (13) rounded out

the Bobcat threesome in double-figure kills. Laura Szymanski (26) and

Alexis Cormiér (17) accounted for 43 of Cal State Northridge's 68 kills, as

the Matadors could muster just a .148 hitting percentage in the match.

Montana State hit .260 and held the advantage in total team blocks, 13-6.

Cormier set the four-game Big Sky Tournament record with 71 total attacks.

With the score tied, 12-12, in the first game, three lead changes ensued as

consecutive kills by the Matadors' Stephanie Laya and Cormiér ended the

frame. Szymanski led all players with 10 kills in the opening game.

In the second game, the Bobcats capitalized on four Matador hitting errors

to break open what was a 10-10 game. MSU eventually won the game, 15-11, as

Cal State Northridge hit just .062. In game three, Montana State jumped out

to an early 5-3 lead before running off the final 10 points unanswered.

It was a game of runs in the fourth game as Montana State jumped out to a

11-2 lead before Cal State Northridge recorded the next 10 points to take

the lead, 12-11. After a Stephanie Laya kill tied the score, 12-12, a

Matador attack error followed by kills from Julia Handwerk and Lorraine

Morrison ended the contest.