CHENEY, Wash. - Nevada Volleyball earned the first win of their 2026 campaign, Thursday, beating Eastern Washington in four sets (25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 28-26). This was head coach Jason Borchin's first win with the Pack and first as a head coach.
A back and forth battle ensued in set one, with both teams tied at 5-5 early on, before the Eagles stacked runs to lead 16-11. The Pack went on a four-point run to cut the lead to 19-18, led by strong plays at the net. Nevada ended the set with a five-point run, led by three kills from
Malia Pilimai to close out the set 25-23.
The Eagles kicked off set two with strong attack, taking up an early 7-1 lead. Four kills from
Paige Thies cut the lead down to 15-12 at the set two media timeout. Nevada went on a four and three-point run to take a 22-19 lead late in the set. A back and forth end to the set was capped by a Pilimai kill to close out the set 25-23.
Five early Thies points led the Pack to a 15-14 lead at the set three media timeout, before a three-point Eastern run put them in the lead 17-15. The end of the set was a battle of attacks with Pilimai and Eagles outside hitter Kalista Lukovich, with Eastern eventually taking the set 25-21.
Set four started off tight between the Pack and the Eagles, with both teams sharing ties up to the media timeout, where Eastern held a 15-12 lead. That lead was extended to 19-13, before a four-point run, highlighted by two
Keely Hummel aces cut the lead down to two points.
Madison Long punctuated a tight end to the set, with Nevada taking three separate set points to eventually run out winners 28-26.
Nevada was led by
Paige Thies' 19-kill, 13-dig double-double, while
Malia Pilimai added a career-high 16 kills.
Adriana Dorn paced the offense with 28 assists and nine digs, and
Masyn Navarro anchored the back row with a match and career-high 23 digs while adding two service aces.
