For the first two games Friday night, everything went right for the Idaho State volleyball team.

Its blocking was as strong as it's been all season, and seemingly every hit found an open piece of hardwood on the other side of the net. Eastern Washington's passes were erratic, and things got so bad for the Eagles at one point that one of their serves bounced short of the net.

The Bengals' home opener definitely looked like an easy win at that point, but once the teams returned from their locker rooms before the third game, the entire match shifted. Eastern Washington spoiled Idaho State's 2009 Reed Gym debut with a 17-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-13 victory.

"It's kind of hard to know," said Bengals coach Chad Teichert while trying to pinpoint what happened. "Did we lose some of our resolve? I don't know. We should've put the ball away. Part of it was their defense. They put up a good block and dug balls. Part of it was that. Part of it was maybe we lost a little bit of composure and went back to some bad-habit patterns."

Whatever it was, the Eagles showed why they won the Big Sky's regular-season championship a year ago after looking like nothing more than a JV team for the first two sets.

Every aspect of Eastern Washington's play picked up, rendering Idaho State's defense, which recorded seven team blocks over the first two sets, relatively ineffective. The Bengals managed only two blocks over the final three games.

"Once you get around the block, that's what builds momentum - the hitting," Eagles senior Hayley Hills said. "It's not serving that builds momentum or passing or setting. It's the hitting. Once you get your hitting down, everything just kind of falls into place."

After Eastern Washington controlled Game 3 the entire way, Idaho State had a chance to recapture momentum in the fourth set and held a 10-7 lead after a kill by sophomore Jaclyn Hone.

From there, though, the Eagles rallied and turned a 13-13 tie into a 17-13 advantage.

"If we knew, it wouldn't have happened," said Idaho State junior outside hitter Sarah Carson on what went wrong during that spell. "We need to work on staying consistent, just keeping calm, letting mistakes go and pushing every point."

In the final game, Eastern Washington jumped out to an 8-5 lead, but after a timeout and a changeover, the Bengals rallied to tie it up at 10-10.

The teams went back and forth after that, but the Eagles scored the two winning points on attack errors by Idaho State senior outside hitter Emily Waldron and Hone.

"Knowing that we're good enough to win and not getting scared at the end is a big part of it," Waldron said about what it'll take for the Bengals to pull out a similar match in the future.

For the match, Waldron led Idaho State with a double-double, as she recorded 13 kills and 17 digs. Junior outside hitter Haylee Thompson posted a team-high 14 kills, while senior libero Paige Palmer had 21 digs.

Hills dominated for Eastern Washington, piling up 20 kills after having only six in the first two games.

"(Hills) has an arm," Teichert said. "She can play a lot of places. She can play at a very hard level and just pounds it. If our block would've been more consistent tonight in the last three games, it would've been a lot easier."

With the win, Eastern Washington improved to 7-5 overall and 3-0 in Big Sky play. Idaho State dropped to 5-7 and 1-2.

The Bengals won't have long to dwell on Friday's lost opportunity. They return to action at 7 p.m. tonight against defending Big Sky tournament champion Portland State.

"We'll keep it in the back of our heads but forget about it," Carson said. "Just think about it tonight and just think about Portland State tomorrow."