Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Sept. 20) -- Senior Marcy Hjellum (Kennewick/Kamiakin HS) and freshman Rachel Hanses (Yakima/West Valley HS) had eight kills apiece, and two of their Central Washington University teammates finished with seven kills each as the Wildcat volleyball team won its 2012 home opener in straight sets over visiting Simon Fraser University on Thursday night. Scores were 25-18, 26-24, 25-15.

CWU, which was among “others receiving votes” in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II poll again this week, improved to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with the victory. Simon Fraser fell to 2-7 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

While Hjellum and Hanses posted the highest kill totals in the match, it was the two players who finished with seven kills each -- and hitting percentages of better than .300 -- whom CWU head coach Mario Andaya praised following the victory.

“Erin and Emmy were good tonight and came through with some big points for us offensively,” Andaya said, referring to juniors Erin Smith (Selah) and Emmy Dolan (Castle Rock), who hit .308 and .385, respectively.

Andaya was pleased with the three-set win in the Wildcats' home debut, but definitely believed that CWU will need to improve significantly in its next match against 13th-ranked Western Washington University this Saturday night.

“I liked how we came out, but we didn't sustain a rhythm to be as controlling as I would have liked,” he explained. “We had too many hitting errors and it almost cost us the second set. Defensively, we played well enough to win but we know we are capable of better.”

CWU posted convincing set victories in the first and third sets, hitting better than .180 in each of those two frames while Simon Fraser hit below .100. However, in the aforementioned second set, the Wildcats committed 11 hitting errors with a .109 percentage and saw a 17-9 lead evaporate as the visiting Clan earned tied at 20-20, 21-21, 22-22, and 23-23. SFU actually had set point at 24-23 before kills by Dolan, Hjellum, and freshman setter Catie Fry (Tacoma/Mount Si HS) rallied the Wildcats to a 26-24 win.

“We stayed poised and fought back to win the set,” Andaya added, “so I was proud of our effort there. It was nice to get this first home match under our belt.”

The Wildcats' opener inside Nicholson Pavilion came on the heels of three consecutive weekends -- and 10 total matches -- played away from home in three geographically distant states (Arizona, California, and Alaska). After Saturday's match against the archrival Vikings, they will then play three of their next four on the road as the calendar turns to October.

Freshman Kaitlin Quirk (Ellensburg) was the only other CWU player with more than three kills in the match, totaling five. She also fired three service aces without an error as the Wildcats outscored Simon Fraser by 11 at the service line.

Sophomore Kaely Kight (Spokane/Mead HS) had 13 digs to lead the back row efforts for CWU. Setters Fry and Devin Larson (Sr., Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) split setting duties, with Fry registering 18 assists and Larson 14.

Danielle Curtis had a team-high seven kills to go with 10 digs for Simon Fraser, while Madeline Hait had six kills and five blocks for the Clan.