Box Score

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Oct. 22) -- Senior Erin Norris (Spokane/Mead HS) and junior Kady Try (Brentwood, Calif./Mead HS) combined for 29 kills, and junior Brandie Vea (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani HS) finished with a match-high 30 digs, but the Central Washington volleyball team fell in four sets to conference co-leader Alaska Anchorage 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19 on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The loss snapped a three-match winning streak for the Wildcats, who are now 12-9 overall and 4-6 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action. Alaska Anchorage improved to 16-7 overall and 8-2 in GNAC play.

Central fell behind two sets to none before emerging from a nail-biting and efficient third set with a 25-23 win. The Wildcats escaped 17 ties and seven lead changes in the third set and posted their highest single-set hitting percentage of the match -- .282 -- in forcing a fourth set. In the final frame, after trading the first eight points with the Seawolves, Central surrendered a 4-0 run and the Wildcats never led again. They did, however, use a 6-1 rally to come from a 14-9 deficit to a 15-15 tie, but that is as close as they would get as UAA scored 10 of the final 14 points to seal the four-set victory.

The Wildcats hit just .151 for the match -- 100 percentage points lower than their hosts, who hit .251 with 17 more kills (66) than Central accumulated (49). Of Central's 25 attack errors in the match, 15 came on the block, where Alaska Anchorage had a 15-11 advantage. Each team finished with three service aces, but CWU surrendered 73 digs to its own 63.

Norris and Try, who both prepped at Spokane's Mead High School, combined for more than half of Central's kills on Thursday. A third former Panther -- sophomore Meg Ryan (Spokane/Mead HS) -- added six kills, as did freshman Marcy Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) in a reserve role. Setter Carlee Marble (La Conner) finished with 45 assists and listed second among Wildcat players with seven digs.

Alaska Anchorage, which is ranked seventh in the NCAA Division II West Region and completed a season sweep of CWU for the second straight year, was led by a 19-kill, 16-dig effort from Jackie Matthisen. Three other Seawolves, including McKenzie Moss (17), had 10 or more kills, and Stacie Meisner led UAA with 19 digs. Cortney Lundberg finished with 11 kills and 11 blocks.

Central Washington wraps up its four-match road trip on Saturday night as the Wildcats visit the Alaska Nanooks (8-12, 2-7 GNAC) in Fairbanks. CWU then returns home next Saturday (Oct. 31) for an afternoon matinee (3 p.m.) match with Northwest Nazarene.