Box Score

BURNABY, British Columbia (Oct. 20) -- Junior Erin Smith (Selah) had a career-best night of 23 kills and a .541 hitting percentage, and the nationally-ranked Central Washington University volleyball team escaped West Gym with a 25-21, 21-25, 25-18, 23-25, 17-15 victory over host Simon Fraser University on Saturday night.

The win was the 10th in the last 11 matches for 21st-ranked CWU, which improved to 15-5 overall and 9-2 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Simon Fraser fell to 4-14 overall and 1-10 in the conference.

Smith, whose previous career-high for kills was 18 earlier this season at Grand Canyon University, committed just three hitting errors in 37 attempts for her sizzling hitting percentage. Seven of her kills (and two of her errors) came in the fifth and final set, when the Wildcats rallied from a 13-9 deficit to tie the score at 13-13. They then fought off match point at 14-13 on a Smith kill, and her final kill of the match gave CWU its second match point at 16-15. Junior Emmy Dolan (Castle Rock) and redshirt freshman Kaitlin Quirk (Ellensburg) then registered a block on the final play of the match to give the Wildcats the victory.

The teams traded four-point victories in the first two sets, only to see CWU take a 2-1 match lead after a convincing 25-18 win in the third frame. The Wildcats played from behind for most of the fourth set, but stayed alive on a kill by Smith after the second of Simon Fraser's set points at 24-23. However, a kill by Katie Forsyth extended the match.

CWU and SFU were even in service aces (five) and digs (73), but the hosts had an 18-11 blocking advantage over the Wildcats. CWU countered with eight more kills -- led by Smith and senior Marcy Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) -- while senior Devin Larson (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) had a career-high 63 assists. Hjellum had 21 kills and 20 digs, with the aforementioned Smith led the Wildcats' blocking efforts with eight total blocks (two solo, six assisted). Sophomore Kaely Kight (Spokane/Mead HS) led all players with 23 digs for CWU.

Simon Fraser was led on offense by Jessica Young, who totaled 23 kills. Madeline Hait had 12 kills and 12 blocks, while Forsyth also had 12 kills to go with 12 digs.

CWU, which remains one match behind Western Washington University in the GNAC standings, will now play five of its final seven conference matches (and five of eight overall) at home inside Nicholson Pavilion. That stretch begins next Thursday (Oct. 25) when the Wildcats host Montana State University Billings at 7 p.m.