Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
#1 Eastern Washington - Semifinals
WSU's Season Ends With 3-0 Sweep by Eastern Washington
11/28/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Weber
State's season came to an end Friday night as the Wildcats fell 3-0 to Eastern
Washington in the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament in Portland,
Oregon. The top seeded Eagles knocked
off the Wildcats 25-18, 25-18, 25-23 to advance to Saturday's championship
match. Weber State ends its season with
a 21-13 overall record.
Playing
in their second match of the day after beating Montana 3-2 Friday morning in
the semifinals, the Wildcats struggled throughout Friday night's match with the
rested Eagles.
Eastern
Washington never trailed in the first set and trailed just once in the second
set. In the opening set the Eagles hit
.417 with 19 kills and just four errors, meaning 19 of their 25 points came on
kills. Weber State struggled in the
second set, hitting -.060 with eight kills and ten errors.
After
the intermission break the Wildcats regrouped and jumped out to a 17-10 lead in
the third set. But Eastern Washington
went on an 11-4 run to tie the set at 21-21.
It was tied again at 23-23 before back-to-back hitting errors by the
Wildcats gave the victory to Eastern Washington.
“Eastern
Washington played a great match and I have to give them credit,” said WSU head
coach Al Givens. “It would have been
nice to get that third set and see what could have happened but it didn't
happen. Eastern Washington is playing
very well right now and played a great match tonight.”
Weber
State finished with a season-low 24 digs and recorded just 29 kills, the second
lowest of the season. The Eagles posted
44 kills and 36 digs and out hit the Wildcats .245 to .060, which is WSU's
second worst hitting percentage of the season.
No
Wildcat posted double-digits in kills as Chelsea Bair led the ?Cats with nine
kills and four digs. Leah Burmeister
finished her Weber State career with six kills and three digs and senior
Brittney Bisaillon also ended her career with four kills and four blocks. She ends her four-years with the Wildcats as
the Big Sky Conference's all-time leader in blocks.
Big
Sky Conference Player of the Year Hayley Hills led Eastern Washington with 18
kills. The Eagles will now play the
winner of the Portland State/Northern Colorado match for the conference
championship Saturday night.
Eastern
Washington has now eliminated Weber State in four of the last five conference
tournaments the ?Cats have played in.
WSU is now 0-4 all-time against the Eagles at the tournament.
With
21 wins the Wildcats won their most matches in 20 years this season. WSU losses just two seniors off this year's
squad.
