The Utah State Eastern women's volleyball team split a pair of matches with No. 12 College of Southern Idaho over the weekend, falling 3-0 on Friday before responding with a 3-1 victory over the Golden Eagles on Saturday.
Under the new Scenic West Athletic Conference schedule, Eastern and Southern Idaho met on consecutive days for the only scheduled meetings between the two teams this season.
Southern Idaho controlled Friday's match from the start, taking the opening set 25-15. The Golden Eagles continued to pressure Eastern in the second set, winning 25-13. The Eagles put together their strongest effort of the night in the third set but were unable to extend the match, falling 25-17 to be swept 3-0.
Sela Christiansen led Eastern with six kills, while Madelin Newbold added five kills in her return from injury.
Eastern had an opportunity to respond Saturday, and the Eagles took advantage. The opening set went down to the wire before CSI edged Eastern 29-27. The Eagles responded by taking control of the match, winning the second set 25-14 and the third set 25-21.
With a chance to close out the match in four sets, Eastern held off the Golden Eagles 26-24 to secure the 3-1 victory over No. 12 CSI.
Christiansen led the Eagles again with 13 kills. Eastern also forced 29 Southern Idaho errors in the victory.
The Eagles will face another ranked conference opponent next weekend when they travel to No. 13 Snow College. Eastern and Snow will meet Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3, in Ephraim, Utah.
