Box Score vs. Western New Mexico
Box Score vs. Cal Poly Pomona

PHOENIX, Ariz. (Aug. 31) -- Senior Marcy Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) had a career-high 19 kills, and the Central Washington University volleyball team rallied from a rocky first set to defeat Western New Mexico University, three sets to two, in the opening match of the Holiday Inn Grand Canyon University Invitational on Friday morning. Set scores were 9-25, 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 19-17.

In the second match of the day, freshman Rachel Hanses (Yakima/West Valley HS) had a career-high 19 kills, Hjellum had 18, and redshirt freshman setter Catie Fry (Tacoma/Mount Si HS) totaled 60 assists as the Wildcats defeated Cal Poly Pomona 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22 to finish the opening day of the season at 2-0.

CWU vs. Western New Mexico
"We started off shaky and pressed in the first set," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "We did start three freshmen, but we didn't expect to be out of character as much as we were to start out."

The three freshmen who started in their collegiate debuts were all redshirts in the program a year ago. Fry, middle blocker Kaitlin Quirk (Ellensburg), and defensive specialist Zoe Iida (Bothell) all made their debuts as starters against the Mustangs. Meanwhile, another freshman, Hanses, had a successful debut as she totaled 11 kills and hit .269.

"Rachel (Hanses) settled down and had a good match," Andaya explained, "and Kaitlin (Quirk) did a nice job at the net for us."

Quirk had one of her five kills to set up an initial match point at 15-14 in the fifth set, and then capped the match with one of her team-high three service aces as the Wildcats pulled out the marathon fifth set, 19-17.

Offensively, Hjellum, one of the team's captains, set the pace with her 19 kills -- two more than her previous career-high of 17. She also had 11 digs in the match, trailing only sophomore libero Kaely Kight (Spokane/Mead HS) among her CWU teammates in that department. Kight led all players with 24 digs.

Fry and senior Devin Larson (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) split time at setter for CWU, with Larson totaling 29 assists in five sets played while Fry added 22 assists in three sets.

Western New Mexico was led by Angelina Pulu with 19 kills and 10 digs.

CWU vs. Cal Poly Pomona
Hanses had another standout match in her starting debut, accumulating the 19 kills and a .289 hitting percentage as four Wildcats finished in double figures for kills. Hjellum added another double-double with 18 kills and 15 digs, while middle blockers Erin Smith (Jr., Selah) and Quirk totaled 11 and 10 kills, respectively.

"We did a better job defensively (than in the opener versus Western New Mexico) and converted a lot of digs into points," Andaya explained. "We passed the ball well, which allowed our offense to be balanced, and Kaitlin (Quirk) and Erin (Smith) were steady and came up big in key situations."

Fry set the offense for 60 of its 65 kills, posting the highest single-match assist total by a CWU player since November 2007 in the process. She also had three kills, three assisted blocks, and eight digs.

"Catie stayed very composed and made good choices," Andaya said.

Each of the first three sets were back-and-forth frames, with CWU emerging victorious in each of the first two. After dropping the third set by a nail-biting two points, the Wildcats led from start-to-finish in the fourth set to complete the opening-day sweep of their two matches.

Kight totaled a career-high 29 digs to lead all players, while sophomore Lauren Herseth (Olympia) finished with 12 digs and a team-high three service aces.

Diana Lake was the only player to reach double figures in kills for Cal Poly Pomona (0-2), totaling 13 kills and 13 digs.

"It's important for us to get regional wins, so we are happy with today's results," Andaya remarked. "We have a big test ahead of us on Saturday, however, facing two defending regional tournament teams."

Central Washington will complete its two-day stay at the Holiday Inn GCU Invitational on Saturday, facing 13th-ranked Metro State (Colo.) at 9 a.m. and tournament host Grand Canyon at 2 p.m. Both the Roadrunners and Antelopes were NCAA Division II Tournament participants in 2011.