Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. (Oct. 15) -- Junior Kady Try (Brentwood, Calif./Mead HS) had a match-high 15 kills, and teammate Erin Norris (Spokane/Mead HS) broke the Great Northwest Athletic Conference career record for service aces as the Central Washington volleyball team defeated host Montana State Billings 19-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-19 on Thursday night.

The win was the second straight for the Wildcats, who improved to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in GNAC play. MSU Billings fell to 11-9 and 4-4.

Try had 15 kills and eight digs while hitting .244 for Central, which earned its first win of the season over an opponent on its home floor. She had five of her kills in the third set, when the Wildcats hit .345 as a team and routed the Yellowjackets by a lopsided 25-14 score.

Norris, meanwhile, had a standout all-around match with nine kills, six blocks (four solo) and two aces. She upped her career total for aces to 190, two better than the previous GNAC career record that had been held by Seattle Pacific's Alyssa Given (2004-07).

In addition to Norris' conference record set on Thursday, Wildcat junior libero Brandie Vea (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani HS) broke the CWU career record for digs with yet another 20-plus dig performance, totaling 25 against the Yellowjackets. She now has 1,245 digs in her three-year career, passing the previous mark of 1,222 by Katie Orgill (1998-2001).

After losing the first set, Central emerged from a neck-and-neck battle in the second set in which there were seven ties and four lead changes. The Wildcats scored the final three points of the set to break a 22-22 tie, including a pair of blocks by Kristel Baeckel (Gresham, Ore./Sam Barlow HS). Sophomore setter Carlee Marble (La Conner) assisted on the set-clinching block.

CWU led from start-to-finish in the third set and trailed just once -- at 1-0 -- in the fourth set en route to its four-set victory. Four Wildcats combined on the team's 13 kills in the final stanza.

Norris and sophomore Meg Ryan (Spokane/Mead HS) had nine kills apiece to supplement the offensive attack, which also had 40 assists from Marble. Vea was the only CWU player with 10 or more digs in the match, although the Wildcats' front-row defense combined for 16 total blocks, helping hold MSU Billings to a .126 hitting percentage including just .063 in the final three sets.

Jen Boe and Devon Crotteau had 13 kills each to lead the Yellowjackets, while Jill Trabing had a team-high 23 digs.

Central Washington continues its road trip with a Saturday afternoon match at Saint Martin's at 2 p.m. The Wildcats will then trek to Alaska next week before returning home for an Oct. 31 match with Northwest Nazarene.