Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Eastern Washington
Wildcats roll to commanding sweep of Eagles
10/12/2012 3:32:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
OGDEN, Utah - The Wildcats found their home footing in commanding fashion.
Led by a season high 10 kills and a career high .769 hitting percentage from junior outside hitter Shanae Burgin, the Weber State University women's volleyball team rolled to a dominating 25-14, 25-22, 25-18 victory over Eastern Washington on Thursday night at Swenson Gym.
"Shanae really gave us a big lift tonight," Weber State coach Tom Peterson said. "I thought we played well as a team. We've had a lot of good moments, but tonight we put those good moments together for longer stretches."
Burgin also had had a career-high four service aces, part of 12 aces by the Wildcats against the Eagles.
"We served the ball well tonight; probably better than we have all season," Peterson said. "I'm just really pleased with our performance tonight."
Senior middle blocker Dama Cox had nine kills and three service aces, while redshirt freshman Mariah Katoa had nine kills and two blocks.
Senior setter Caitlin Penrod had 31 assists, four kills, four digs, four blocks and pair of service aces, while senior libero Laurel Bodily had 12 digs and three service aces.
Redshirt freshman middle blocker Audrey Gee had five blocks, the eighth time this season she's recorded at least that total.
Weber State finished the night with 41 kills, hitting .284, with 10 team blocks.
The Wildcats jumped out early in the first set and never trailed. The Eagles built an 18-13 lead, but the WSU rallied to cut it to 18-16.
After EWU pushed the lead back to 20-17, the Weber State stormed back with a 6-1 surge to take a 23-21 and then closed it out on kills by Katoa and redshirt freshman outside hitter Rebecca Fuchs that gave the Wildcats a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was close early, with Eastern Washington holding a 10-9 lead, but the Wildcats gradually pulled away as Cox had seven of Weber State's 17 kills during the final set, including the set, and match, winning point.
The Wildcats improved to 8-12 overall (2-6 Big Sky) with their first home win of the season and their first three-set home win since beating Seattle 3-0 on Oct. 17, 2009. Eastern
Washington fell to 0-9 in Big Sky play (0-20 overall).
Weber State will return to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. against league-leading Portland State. The Vikings will take on Idaho State in Pocatello, Idaho on Friday night, before traveling to Ogden.
