Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Oct. 31) -- Freshman Marcy Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) had career-highs of 16 kills and 22 digs, and junior Kady Try (Brentwood, Calif./Mead HS) also finished with 16 kills to lead Central Washington to an 18-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-16 volleyball victory over Northwest Nazarene in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Nicholson Pavilion.

The win snapped a two-match losing streak for the Wildcats, who improved to 13-10 overall and 5-7 in GNAC play. Northwest Nazarene fell to 14-11 overall and 7-5 in league action.

Following a sluggish first set in which Central hit just .054 and surrendered a 12-3 run to the Crusaders early in the frame en route to the seven-point loss, the Wildcat attack began to heat up in the second set. Central led 3-1 early in the second before giving up eight straight points and trailing by as many as seven on three occasions. However, an 8-1 run by the hosts tied the score at 13-13, after which point the two teams were neck-and-neck. Northwest Nazarene went ahead 21-19 but five straight tallies by the Wildcats, including two kills by Erin Norris (Spokane/Mead HS) and three NNU miscues, gave CWU set point. After a service error and attack error kept the Crusaders alive, Hjellum hammered down a kill to tie the match at one set apiece.

The offensive momentum continued for Central Washington after the intermission, as the Wildcats hit .250 in the third set and never trailed en route to their 25-15 win. Try and junior Kristel Baeckel (Gresham, Ore./Sam Barlow HS) fueled the offensive barrage with five kills apiece in the third set, while Hjellum had 11 digs in that frame alone en route to taking a 2-1 match lead.

The final set nearly paralleled the third, although Central did not take the lead for good until Hjellum's kill gave the Wildcats an 8-7 lead. CWU closed the match on an 18-9 run, sparked again by the attack of Try and Hjellum, who had six kills each in the fourth set as Central hit .342. The Wildcats also took advantage of Northwest Nazarene's worst set of the match, in which the Crusaders committed seven hitting errors and hit just .071.

Central Washington held a statistical advantage in nearly every category except blocking, where NNU had a 5-3 advantage. The Wildcats had a 55-42 edge in kills, hit 71 percentage points better, totaled seven aces to the Crusaders' four, and outdug the national Division II dig leaders by an 87-79 count in the four-set match. Hjellum and junior Brandie Vea (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani HS) were instrumental in the Wildcats' dig efforts with 22 and 24, respectively, while three others had 10 digs each.

In addition to the 16 kills each from Try and Hjellum, Norris finished with eight kills and Baeckel added seven with a .455 hitting percentage.

No NNU players finished with double figures in kills. Senior Cammy Dranginis led the Crusaders with nine, while libero Haley Hevern led all players with 28 digs.

Central Washington travels to Seattle Pacific next Thursday (Nov. 5) for its final away match of the 2009 season. The Wildcats then play their final three at home in Nicholson Pavilion, beginning with a rivalry match against Western Washington next Saturday night (Nov. 7) at 7 p.m.