Box Score

BELLINGHAM (Sept. 10) -- Senior Meg Ryan (Spokane/Mead HS) had 11 kills and 12 digs, including six kills in the third set, but the Central Washington University volleyball team was swept by rival Western Washington University 25-23, 25-11, 25-23 on Saturday night at Carver Gym.

The Wildcats finished their season-opening nine-match road trip with a 6-3 overall record, including 1-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches. The 23rd-ranked Vikings improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in GNAC play with Saturday's sweep.

Ryan, who combined with fellow outside hitter Jordan Offutt (Leavenworth/Cascade HS) for 20 of Central Washington's 30 kills in the match, was one of a limited number of offensive bright spots for the Wildcats, who finished the match with a season-low .064 hitting percentage.

"Tonight is not the way we wanted to end the (nine-match) road trip," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "We played streaky most of the match, and you can't do that against a good opponent (like WWU). We have learned what we are capable of, and what we need to work on, but we didn't play to our strength the entire match."

The Wildcats never led in the first set, but kept the score close throughout. They tied the contest at 14-14, but then surrendered four straight points to the Vikings and had to play catch up the rest of the way. CWU fended off three set points before Kelsey Moore provided WWU with the set-winning kill.

In the second set, Central Washington had its most sluggish offensive frame of the 2011 season to date, committing 13 hitting errors with just five kills, as Western Washington had eight blocks in the set. In spite of those numbers in the set, the Wildcats led 3-0 early and there were four early ties before the Vikings scored 18 of the final 21 points.

The lead wavered back and forth in the third and final set, with Central leading for most of the way down the stretch, but after holding a six-point lead at 22-16, Western rallied with five straight points to cut the Wildcats' lead to one, and the Vikings then scored the final four points of the match to complete the sweep.

After hitting at least .150 as a team in each of its first eight matches, Central Washington had just one player -- sophomore reserve Emmy Dolan (Castle Rock) at .167 with three kills -- hit better than that percentage for the match on Saturday. While Ryan and Offutt combined for 20 kills, they also committed 14 attack errors in the match. The Wildcats' next-highest kill-maker was sophomore middle blocker Erin Smith (Selah), who finished with five kills.

Defensively, Central Washington totaled 59 digs thanks to 19 from sophomore Chelsie Vea (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani HS) and 12 from Ryan. The Wildcats managed just three team blocks up front, while Western Washington had 11 total blocks and outdug CWU by a 64-59 count.

Moore led the Vikings with 11 kills in the match, while setter Laurie Yearout had 31 assists, three aces, and four assisted blocks. Samantha Hutchinson led all players with 24 digs for WWU.

Central Washington will return to Nicholson Pavilion for its 2011 home opener on Thursday (Sept. 15) against pre-season GNAC favorite Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m.