Box Score MONMOUTH, Ore (Sept. 22) – The Central Washington University volleyball team won its second-straight contest Monday night defeating Western Oregon University 3-2.
The Wildcats improve to 9-2 on the season and 2-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Western Oregon now sits with a 2-10 record, 0-4 in the GNAC.
Junior setter
Catie Fry had a season-high 58 assists and contributed 17 digs. In total, five Wildcats had double-digit digs led by
Kaely Kight who had a match-high of 32.
"Defensively I was proud of how we responded today." Head Coach Mario Andaya said. "All our defenders, especially Kaely [Kight], were rocks back there for us."
Three CWU hitters had double-digit kills as
Kiah Jones led the offense with 20, followed by
Linden Firethorne and
Jordan Deming who each had 14.
"It's a solid win for us," Andaya added. "Western Oregon brought a good defensive front, once we settled down on the offensive side we were able to make things happen."
In the first set the Wildcats lost 26-24, but came from behind to tie the match 24-24 after trailing 24-20. Jones had seven of her 20 kills in the opening set, three of which came in the Wildcats 4-0 run near the end of the set. The Wolves held a .238 to .198 hitting percentage advantage in the set and had three less hitting errors than the Wildcats.
Despite hitting just .113 in the second set, the Wildcats raced to a 25-18 win. Central Washington used a 3-0 and a 4-0 run to gain separation over the Wolves who were held to .000 hitting percentage in the set. The Wildcats defense came up huge in the set with four blocks and a game-high 27 digs.
The Wildcat offense improved in the third set hitting .191, battling to a 25-21 win. Central Washington trailed for most of the set before taking an 18-17 lead on a kill by Jones. The Wildcats outscored the Wolves 7-4 throughout the remainder of the set as CWU held the Western Oregon offense to a .093 hitting percentage.
Western Oregon pulled ahead 7-2 in the third set and the Wildcats were unable to recover from the early deficit. The closest CWU was able to get was to within three points in the set as the Wolves outhit the Wildcats by over .100 (.220 to .107).
The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the decisive fifth and final set as the teams switched sides. Firethorne aided the Wildcat attack contributing three kills to extend the advantage to 11-5 before the Wildcats won the match 15-10 and taking the game 3-2.
The Wildcats return home as they host Alaska on Thursday, Sept. 25 and Alaska Anchorage on Sept. 27, both games are scheduled to start at 7 P.M.
"We have a short turn around, and we need to rest," Andaya explained. "We had a grueling couple of weeks and we start school Wednesday, so we have to get our minds right academically, rest up, and come ready to play Thursday."
