Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Sept. 19) -- Fifteen different Central Washington University players saw court time, and the Wildcat offense hit .312 for the second straight match as they cruised to a 25-10, 25-20, 25-13 non-conference volleyball victory over visiting Walla Walla University on Monday night at Nicholson Pavilion.

The win was the second straight 3-0 sweep for CWU, which improved to 8-4 on the season and won two of three matches in its first home stand of the season. The Wildcats also improved to 3-0 in the all-time series with Walla Walla (5-12), and they are now 6-0 in matches played on Mondays since becoming a NCAA Division II member in 1998.

Of the 15 players to appear for the Wildcats in Monday's win, 11 of them had at least one kill. Junior outside hitter Jordan Offutt (Leavenworth/Cascade HS) led CWU with nine kills in just two sets played, while fellow outside hitters Meg Ryan (Spokane/Mead HS) and Marcy Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) had six kills each. Junior Sabrina Schwindler (La Conner) had five kills in seven attempts (.714 percentage) in the third set in her home debut.

"Overall, I was pleased with how we competed as a whole," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "We didn't quite know what to expect (from Walla Walla), so I felt we were a bit tentative offensively to start the match. We settled in and did a nice job attacking towards the end."

The Wildcats led from start-to-finish in both the first and third sets against the Wolves, although they were challenged by the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) school in each of the first two sets. They weren't able to break away from the Wolves in the first set until a 5-0 run jumpstarted a 15-5 spurt to end the opening set, and the score was tied as late as 15-15 in the second set before another 5-0 Wildcat run gave the hosts the lead for good.

CWU was able to rest many of its starters in the latter sets, starting three reserves in the second set and five in the third. Junior setter Devin Larson (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) had 25 assists, six digs, and a service ace over the final two sets, while Schwindler sparked the Wildcats' .438 hitting percentage in the final set by collecting five kills in seven swings.

Defensively, Central Washington was strong once again, holding Walla Walla to a .044 hitting percentage with just 22 kills in the three sets. The Wildcats held the Wolves without a service ace and without a block for the entire contest, which matched last Saturday's win over Montana State Billings in lasting 67 minutes. Sophomore Chelsie Vea (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani HS) had nearly half (13) of Central's 27 digs in the first two sets when she played, while backup libero Lauren Herseth (Olympia) finished with six of her team's 15 digs in the third and final set.

Walla Walla was carried offensively by seniors Natalie Wilkening (12 kills) and Heather McFadden (seven). Wilkening also added 10 digs as the Wolves totaled just 22 kills and 33 digs for the three-set match.

Central Washington will return to action this Thursday night (Sept. 22) as the Wildcats play Northwest Nazarene University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at Nampa, Idaho. CWU has three straight matches on the road before returning to Nicholson Pavilion on Oct. 6 to face Alaska Anchorage.