BELLINGHAM, Wash (Oct. 2) – After winning the first set, the Central Washington University volleyball team lost to archrival No. 11 Western Washington University 3-1 Thursday night at Carver Gymnasium.
 
With the loss CWU drops to 10-4 on the season and 3-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  Western Washington improves its record to 11-4, 4-2 in the GNAC.
 
Central Washington fell behind early in the first set as Western Washington built a  5 point lead to start the set.  The Wildcats played from behind for the majority of the match and finally clawed their way back to gain a 23-22 lead en route to the 25-23 set win.  Linden Firethorne, who had eight kills in the set, led the Wildcats and Catie Fry set up the CWU hitters with 14 assists.
 
"We weathered the storm in the first set despite coming out stagnant on defense," Head Coach Mario Andaya said.  "I liked our composure in the set and it even carried over to the start of the second set."
 
Western Washington turned the tables on the Wildcats in the second set.  Central Washington led by three points midway through the set before the Vikings ended the frame on a 15-8 run to win 25-21.
 
The Wildcats held a lead just twice in the final two sets where the Wildcats hit -.023 and .171 respectively and tallied 16 of their 25 attack errors as the Vikings closed out the match 3-1.
 
"We made too many errors in the third set and Western took advantage of it," Adaya added.  "Western kept swinging and their outsides we good tonight. We did a good job defending their middle attack but their outsides were very good and we gout out of sorts try to neutralize the outside."
 
Firethorne led all players with 22 kills, and Fry's 49 assists was also a game-high.  Western Washington outhit the Wildcats .259 to .178 and committed seven less attack errors than the Wildcats (25-18).  Kaely Kight also led all players in digs, including the nations leader from WWU Samantha Hutchinson, with 25.
 
Up next the Wildcats look to get back on track when they travel to Canada to play Simon Fraser University this Saturday, Oct. 4 at 7 P.M.