Sports Briefs

EWU’s Dula advances in ITA tennis

Eastern Washington University’s men’s tennis team made history this weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships in Berkeley, Calif., Oct. 13-15.

Senior Robert Dula entered the bracket ranked 17th and advanced to the fourth round, which had 16 players from a 128 draw, making him the first Eagle to ever advance that far in the tournament. This comes on the heels of advancing the first time in history for any Eagle to go to the finals of the 256 pre-qualifying draw at the ITA All American Nationals in Tulsa just earlier this month after taking down players from Oklahoma State, Eastern Tennessee and Texas A&M.

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Reiter tops at I.E. Championships

Sarah Reiter took home her second first place finish of the 2016 season as the Eastern Washington University cross country team competed at the Inland Empire Championships on Saturday, Oct. 15 in Lewiston, Idaho.

As a team, the Eastern women, who scored 76 points, finished third behind the University of Idaho (29) and Montana (42). The Eastern Washington men placed fourth as Washington State won that team title. WSU had 37 points and was followed by Gonzaga (69), Idaho (70) and Eastern (76).

Reiter finished the 5,000-meter course in first place with a time of 16 minutes, 36 seconds and a mile pace of 5:22, good for a new personal best.

EWU’s Isaac Kitzan was the top finisher on the men’s side in ninth place, running the 8,000-meter course in a time of 24:53.

Next up for Eastern are the Big Sky Conference Championships on Friday, Oct. 28 in Moscow, Idaho.

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Northern Arizona halts EWU soccer streak

Eastern Washington’s 10-game undefeated streak came to an end in the high-altitude of Flagstaff at the hands of Northern Arizona, 3-1 Sunday, Oct. 16 in a Big Sky Conference soccer game.

Two late Lumberjacks’ goals, the game-winner from Ali Lixandru in the 79th minute, and an insurance tally by Adrian Nixt in the 89th minute broke a 1-1 tie that was engineered by a goal in the 77th minute by the Eagles’ Chloe Williams. Eastern’s last loss came on Aug. 28, 3-1 to the University of Nevada Las Vegas in a non league contest.

EWU was 7-0-3 in the streak with five shutouts.

The Eagles began the road trip with a 3-3 tie last Friday at Southern Utah. Eastern is now 4-1-2 (14 points) in the Big Sky, 10-2-3 overall, and trails league-leading Idaho (5-1-1) with 16 points.

In Cedar City, EWU’s Lexi Klinkenberg recorded the first multi-goal game of her career scoring the pair of goals for the Eagles in the 10th and 29th minutes in the deadlock.

The Eagles return home for a match against Northern Colorado on Friday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m.

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Eastern earns split in Big Sky volleyball

The Eastern Washington University volleyball team got a career-best 22 kills from redshirt sophomore Taylor Larsen to help them collect a 3-2 Big Sky Conference victory at Idaho on Saturday, Oct. 15.

With the win, Eastern salvaged a split in their road trip through the Idaho portion of the conference following a 3-0 loss at Idaho State on Oct. 13. EWU currently sits third in the North Division with a 5-3 record, and trail first-place North Dakota (7-1) by two games.

Larsen, a Colfax, Wash. native recorded the first 20-kill match for any Eagle on the year in the match where Eastern pulled out victories in every odd set, 26-24, 23-25, 25-19, 21-25 and 15-7.

At Pocatello, Regan Harr, another sophomore, picked up her second career double-double but it was not enough for Eastern, which fell 25-23, 25-23 and 25-19.

The Eagles continue their four-match Big Sky road trip next week at Portland State tonight (Thursday, Sept. 20) and Sacramento State, Saturday, Oct. 22.