Kupp earns Big Sky, national honors
Cooper Kupp’s ability to put points on the board for the seventh-ranked Eastern Washington University football team paid off with the junior wide receiver/punt returner being selected by the Big Sky Conference as Special Teams Player of the Week.
In addition, he received national honors as the College Football Performance Awards National FCS Performer of the Week in EWU’s 45-28 win at Idaho State.
After catching two touchdown passes and even throwing for one earlier in the game, Kupp scored the only points in the third quarter last Saturday with a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown.
In the process of scoring his 49th, 50th and 51st touchdowns as an Eagle he also threw a touchdown pass, a 23-yard effort to quarterback Jordan West to tie the game at 7-7.
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Sarah Reiter earns Big Sky Conference
Athlete of the Week honors
Former Big Sky Conference Cross Country champion Sarah Reiter has been named female Big Sky Conference Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 21, after her stellar performance and leadership at Pre-Nationals (Oct. 17).
Reiter, a junior from Renton, Wash., raced to a 16th place finish in a stacked field including several ranked teams and All-Americans at the Division I Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky. She covered the 6,000 meter course in 20:25.9, helping the Eagles place 13th as a team at the meet in the prestigious red section. It was the second straight meet where Reiter was 16th, as she had the same placing amongst a strong field at the Washington Invitational (Oct. 2). Reiter’s leadership has lifted EWU to a USTFCCCA regional ranking of sixth in a talented West Region, a program best for the Eagles.
Reiter is the defending Big Sky Cross Country Champion
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EWU volleyball begins second half
The Eastern Washington University volleyball team begins the second half of its Big Sky Conference schedule on the road with contests at Idaho State and Weber State this week.
EWU will take on the Bengals tonight, Thursday, Oct. 22, before facing the Wildcats Saturday, Oct. 24. Both matches are set to begin at 6 p.m.
With the first half of league play in the rearview mirror, Eastern (12-7, 7-1 BSC) is tied for first place in the conference standings with South Division foes Idaho State and Northern Arizona.
Eastern saw its eight-match winning streak and perfect 7-0 start to league play come to an end after falling in five sets at Montana Oct. 17. The Eagles’ eight straight wins were the most since the 2007 season.
Senior Ryann Ensrud had a monster outing against the Grizzlies on Saturday, setting a new career high with 38 digs. It bested her previous career high of 28 digs set earlier this season against Southern Utah on Oct. 1. Her 38 digs were the most by a Big Sky player in a conference match since Kasimira Clark had 41 digs against Sacramento State back on Sept. 15, 2012.
Ensrud’s 38 digs pushed her over the 1,000-dig mark in her career.
Sophomore Nicole Rigoni also set a new career high in EWU’s match against Montana, finishing with 52 assists to go along with 10 digs. Seniors Ana Jakovljevic and Allie Schumacher joined Rigoni with double-doubles of their own with Jakovljevic notching 17 kills and 13 digs while Schumacher tallied 16 kills and 14 digs.
Eagles’ soccer streak ends in Missoula
It took 108 minutes and double overtime to end Eastern Washington University’s eight game soccer wining streak, 2-1 last Friday, Oct. 8 to the University of Montana in Missoula.
Allie Lucas of the Grizzlies scored off of a flurry of shots for the winner as the Eagles drop to 10-2-1 overall and 4-1-0 in Big Sky Conference play while the Grizzlies improve their record to 5-7-2 overall and 2-2-1 in conference play.
After Montana scored in the 16th minute of play, Eastern evened the score off of a corner kick in the 36th minute by Chloe Williams and a header from Jenny Chavez to score.
“Today was a disappointing result for us,” head coach Chad Bodnar said.”We fought for 108 minutes, and its hard to see road points slip away with two minutes left.”
Eastern will play its next two games at home against Northern Arizona on Friday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. and Southern Utah on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.
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Eastern volleyball stays unbeaten
Off to its best start to Big Sky Conference play in 12 years, the Eastern Washington University volleyball team will begin a four-match road trip with contests at Montana State and Montana this week.
EWU will square off with the Bobcats this Thursday, Oct. 15, before taking on the Grizzlies this Saturday, Oct. 17. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.
Eastern (11-6, 6-0 BSC) picked up a pair of league wins this past week, topping both Sacramento State and Portland State in four sets at Reese Court. The Eagles have not started conference play with six straight victories since the 2003 season when they won their first 11 Big Sky matches.
Individually, senior Ryann Ensrud ranks third in digs per set (4.81 d/s) in conference play and has notched at least 20 digs in three of Eastern’s last four matches. Classmate Ana Jakovljevic has put down double-digit kills in the Eagles’ last four contests and is averaging 3.29 kills per set in Big Sky contests to rank eighth.
Winners of seven straight heading into this week, EWU has upped its play in league action, pacing the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.136) while ranking second in hitting percentage (.244), blocks per set (2.60 b/s) and digs per set (16.19 d/s).
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