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BURNABY, British Columbia (Oct. 3) -- Senior Emmy Dolan (Castle Rock) had 18 kills in four sets played, and sophomore Linden Firethorne (Clinton/South Whidbey HS) added 14 kills, but the Central Washington University volleyball team suffered a rare loss to host Simon Fraser University, falling in five sets on Thursday evening at West Gym. Set scores were 25-21, 16-25, 21-25, 30-28, 15-8 in favor of the Clan.

CWU fell to 6-7 overall and 2-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, while SFU improved to 6-3 overall and earned its first conference win of the season (1-2).

The loss snapped a six-match series win streak for the Wildcats, whose last defeat against the Clan came during the 1999 season. The two teams did not play each other between 2000 and 2009 prior to Simon Fraser's addition to the GNAC.

Dolan, who along with several of the Wildcats' regular starters did not play in the opening set, finished with four kills each in the second and third set before erupting for nine kills -- and a .692 hitting percentage -- in the fourth set. In that frame, which CWU lost by a 30-28 score, Firethorne contributed five kills as the duo combined for 14 of the team's 17 kills in that set.

Redshirt freshman Erika Waldner (Olympia/Tumwater HS) had six kills in 10 attempts in the first set, which was also her collegiate debut. She and sophomore Rachel Hanses (Yakima/West Valley HS) carried the CWU attack in the opening set, combining for nine kills, but the Wildcats watched as Simon Fraser accumulated 20 kills and hit .366 as a team in claiming a 25-21 win.

CWU took back-to-back set victories in the second and third to take a 2-1 match lead, but the Wildcats were unable to seal the win in a monumental fourth set that featured 20 ties and 11 lead changes. Neither team led by more than two points at any juncture in the set, and CWU actually had two match points (25-24 and 27-26) before surrendering set-tying tallies to the Clan.

In the decisive fifth set, Simon Fraser broke a 2-2 tie with three straight points, part of a 9-2 Clan run that enabled the hosts to defeat CWU for the first time in the rally-scoring era.

The Wildcats finished the match with an edge in hitting percentage and service aces, but were outscored in total number of kills and blocks, and outdug by a 95-75 margin.

Junior Kaely Kight (Spokane/Mead HS) led four CWU players in double figures in digs with 24, while sophomore Zoe Iida (Bothell) added 15.

Kelsey Robinson and Madeline Hait keyed the Simon Fraser attack, finishing with 21 and 18 kills, respectively. Robinson added 19 digs, while Hait had seven total blocks and a .306 hitting percentage for the match. Amanda Renkema added 15 kills and five blocks for the Clan.

CWU remains on the road this Saturday (Oct. 5), visiting archrival and nationally-ranked Western Washington University at 7 p.m. in Bellingham. The Wildcats' next home match is next Thursday (Oct. 10) against Seattle Pacific University.