Box Score vs. Dominican (CA)
Box Score vs. San Francisco State

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Sept. 6) -- Senior MEG RYAN (Spokane/Mead HS) had the first 20-20 match of her career, and junior teammate JORDAN OFFUTT (Leavenworth/Cascade HS) posted yet another career-high with 21 kills in leading Central Washington University to a four-set women's volleyball win over Dominican University of California on Tuesday afternoon. The Wildcats later lost to San Francisco State University in straight sets.

CWU is now 4-2 on its seven-match, season-opening trip to northern California that concludes on Wednesday against Notre Dame de Namur University. So far, the Wildcats have played six matches in six days and will play a total of nine matches in a 10-day span overall to begin the season.

Ryan had 20 kills and 20 digs while hitting at a .333 clip. It marked the second time in five matches this season that she had surpassed the 20-kill plateau, while the 20 digs were a career-high for the senior.

Offutt continued her torrid offensive start to the season by collecting 21 kills, a .348 hitting percentage, and six total blocks to help the Wildcats. The junior, who is a first-year starter, had at least five kills in each of the four sets against the Penguins (0-5) on Tuesday.

Central Washington eased past Dominican in the opening set of the first-ever volleyball meeting between the two schools, winning 25-13. However, the Wildcats squandered a 22-17 lead late in the second set as the Penguins scored five straight points to tie the contest, and Dominican then nine of the final 11 points to tie the match at one set apiece.

"Our passing was off in the second set," CWU head coach Mario Andaya explained. "We didn't give (backup setter) Devin (Larson) an opportunity to run the offense. We settled down in set three and had a more balanced attack."

The Wildcat offense returned to form in the third frame, accumulating 18 kills and hitting .213 while holding Dominican to just seven kills in posting a 25-18 win. They then saved their best offensive set of the day for last, chalking up 18 more kills with just two errors (.421 hitting percentage) in the 25-20 victory.

Offutt, Ryan, and sophomore EMMY DOLAN (Castle Rock) combined for 49 of Central Washington's 59 kills in the win. Senior setter CARLEE MARBLE (La Conner) had 37 assists and 13 digs in just three sets played.

Dominican had two players -- Seluia Falealili and Samantha Rains -- with 10 kills to tie for team-leading honors. Jessica Jones (19 digs) and LaShelle Rullan (16) paced the Penguins' back row efforts.

In the nightcap against host San Francisco State, Central Washington ran into an extremely hot-hitting Gator team that saw five of its six starters finish with six or more kills and hitting percentages above .250 as SF State hit .310 and swept the Wildcats 25-18, 25-21, 25-22.

"We didn't play well," Andaya said. "Defensively, we were out of character, and offensively, we struggled. SF State is good, and we needed to be (firing) on all cylinders to win. We're playing a lot of matches for a reason, and we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We plan to learn from this and play better tomorrow (at Notre Dame de Namur)."

Against SF State, CWU kept the score close in the first set, not trailing by more than three points until late in the frame when the Gators went on a 10-4 run to turn a one-point margin into a seven-point set victory.

The Wildcats again remained close in the second set, but it was a run by SF State midway through the frame that turned a one-point differential into a steady five- and six-point lead for the Gators.

The third and final frame saw CWU trail from start-to-finish, with the exception of a tie at 3-3, as the Wildcats suffered their first straight-set defeat of the young season.

Offutt and true freshman CHELTZIE WILLIAMS (Twin Falls, Idaho) had eight kills apiece to lead Central's offense, which finished with a .150 hitting percentage and just 29 kills in three sets. Williams had a career-best .667 percentage with no errors in 12 attempts. Sophomore CHELSIE VEA (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani HS) was the only CWU player with double digits for digs, totaling 12 of the Wildcats' 36 digs in the match.

San Francisco State had three players with 10 or more kills, led by Lauren Walsh with 12. Setter Iris Tolenada totaled 44 assists in three sets, and Sarah Kurfess led the Gators with 16 digs.

Central Washington has three matches remaining this week before making its 2011 Nicholson Pavilion debut next Thursday (Sept. 15) against Seattle Pacific. Following the Wildcats' Wednesday match at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, Calif. (7 p.m.), CWU opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with matches at Simon Fraser University and Western Washington University on Friday (Sept. 9) and Saturday (Sept. 10), respectively.