Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Oct. 22) -- Junior Jordan Offutt (Leavenworth/Cascade HS) finished with 16 kills, including eight in the third set, but the Central Washington University volleyball team ran into an efficient Northwest Nazarene University squad in falling in straight sets to the Crusaders on Saturday night at Nicholson Pavilion. Set scores were 25-21, 25-16, 25-21.

The Wildcats dropped their second straight match and are now 11-9 overall and in 5-7 Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Northwest Nazarene won its seventh straight match to improve to 14-8 overall and 9-3 in the GNAC, keeping pace with the conference leaders.

Offutt started the match with seven kills in the first set as each team hit extremely well in the opening frame. The Wildcats hit .300 with 16 kills -- 15 of which were assisted by senior setter Carlee Marble (La Conner) -- while the visiting Crusaders totaled 18 kills and a sizzling .350 percentage. A key 6-1 scoring run by NNU broke a 5-5 tie early in the set, and despite closing to within one at 15-14, the Wildcats were never able to catch up.

The second set saw an even more impressive scoring run from Northwest Nazarene, as CWU lead 4-3 early before the Crusaders reeled off 19 of the next 24 points to take a commanding 22-9 lead. NNU scored seven straight tallies at one point during that span, the last five of which were on blocks. Central mounted a late rally and outscored the Crusaders 7-3 to make it a more respectable nine-point margin.

The final set was the most competitive of the three on the night, with the two teams combining for 13 ties and six lead changes. The two teams also combined for 30 kills and 39 digs in the final frame, but Northwest Nazarene blocking accounted for six of Central Washington's eight hitting errors in the set. The score was tied as late as 18-18 before NNU scored consecutive points -- and four of the next five -- to go in front by three. Reisa Fessler, who had back-to-back kills during that late scoring run, capped the sweep with a service ace for the Crusaders.

Central Washington finished the match hitting just .144, with half as many errors (19) as kills (38). The Wildcats hit into the block 13 times in the match, as Northwest Nazarene extended its GNAC lead in the blocking department. The Crusaders also hit .242 as a team and outscored CWU by eight points (46-38) in the kill department.

Individually, Offutt was the only Wildcat player with more than six kills -- senior Meg Ryan (Spokane/Mead HS) had six. Freshman Kaely Kight (Spokane/Mead HS) finished with 19 digs in the three-set match, as CWU had just a 58-56 disadvantage in the dig department. Kight was the lone CWU player with more than seven digs in the match.

Northwest Nazarene was led offensively by senior Becky Flores with 10 kills and a .364 percentage in a reserve role. Haley Abbott had eight assisted blocks to lead the Crusaders' charge at the net, while three NNU players finished with 12 or more digs in the match.

Central Washington will continue its three-match home stand next week with contests on Thursday (Oct. 27) against Saint Martin's and on Saturday (Oct. 29) against Western Oregon. Four of the Wildcats' remaining six matches will be played inside Nicholson Pavilion.