PRICE – Utah State Eastern volleyball’s historic 2018 season ended on Friday with a 3-0 loss to the Snow College Badgers in Region XVIII Tournament Semifinals in Twin Falls.

Coming into the tournament the Eagles held the two seed and had a first round bye while Snow defeated Salt Lake earlier on Friday 3-0.

Snow opened the game against the Eagles with a 25-15 first set win.

The Badgers .300 hit percentage and four service aces would be a factor in the first set.

In the second set, the offense of Snow would again guide them to another 25-15 set win to go up 2-0.

Snow put up another .300 hit percentage along with five blocks on defense to keep the momentum of the match.

“This game came down to defense. We were struggling to put the block up and that had a big effect on our back row,” said USU Eastern’s Sarah Mafi.

After the break between the second and third set, the Eagles would keep the third set close and not let Badgers get ahead early.

The Eagles would tie the game at 17-17 before the Badgers would go on a 8-1 run to close out the set and match.

“I was not happy with the way they played today and wanted a different outcome but I am proud of the way they represented themselves, this program and the school,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Danielle Jensen.

Snow’s win advances them to Saturday’s Region XVIII Championship game against the winner of College of Southern Nevada and College of Southern Idaho.

Mackenzie Carter led the Eagles in kills with 11. Kiara Richardson and Mafi combined scored for 13 kills.

Sophomore libero Alexus Desmarais led the Eagles defense with 12 digs while Mafi was second on the team with 11 digs.

Friday’s loss marks the end of the best season in school history with an 8-3 conference record with wins over College of Southern Idaho, Salt Lake Community College and Snow College. All three schools were ranked in the top ten nationally throughout the season.

“This season was amazing and I am proud of these girls and what they were able to accomplish this year,”said Jensen.

“We experienced so many things together as a team that taught us so much and made us better as a team and individually. I am so honored to be the coach of this team”.

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