By Loren Miller, USU Eastern Sports Information:

PRICE – USU Eastern volleyball defeated the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes 3-0 on Thursday in Las Vegas.

Both teams opened the match going back and forth in the first set until the Eagles found a rhythm and defeat the Coyotes convincingly 25-16.

The Eagles had a .350 attack percentage and two attack errors in the first set.

“We came ready to play. The girls executed our offense and played awesome defense,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Danielle Jensen.

In the second set the Eagles continued to have the momentum of the game with a 9-3 start.

After a timeout by CSN, the gap would close and the Coyotes would cut the lead to 10-8.

The comeback by the Coyotes in the second set would force Jensen to take a timeout to regroup.

“We knew we had to break the serve and refocus. After we took a minute to do that we went back to work,” said Jensen.

Led by Taylor Ferrel and Sarah Mafi’s combined six kills following the timeout, the Eagles would finish off the Coyotes in the second set 25-20.

With the 2-0 lead, the Eagles would start out slow and fall behind 13-5 early in the third set.

Errors and mistakes by the Coyotes however would bring the Eagles back to only a one point deficit at 15-14. CSN committed seven errors following their hot start.

After CSN tied the game at 18-18, the Eagles would end the third set with a 7-2 run to get the third set win.

“In the third set passing and being able to run our offense helped us to secure the win,” said USU Eastern sophomore Mackenzie Carter. “Every single person on our side of the court had energy and that helped us a ton throughout the game and especially in the third set.”

Las Vegas area natives Carter and Kiara Richardson each had impressive games for the Eagles. Carter had 9 kills and 9 digs, both team-highs while Richardson had 7 kills and four digs.

Setter Siara Roberts, another Las Vegas native, had 29 assists for the Eagles.

“It is great to have the support of our friends and family here and I think that helped us to play the way we did tonight,” said Carter.

USU Eastern libero Alexus Desmarais finished the game with three service aces and nine digs.

Thursday’s win puts the Eagles at 2-2 in conference play and 11-9 overall.

Their road trip will continue this Saturday with a game against nationally ranked Snow College at 1 p.m.

“The game against Snow is huge for both teams. If we pull off the win we sit third in conference,” said Jensen.

Fans can watch Saturday’s game against #7 Snow on the SnowTV YouTube channel.