ELLENSBURG, Wash (Sept. 27) – The Central Washington University volleyball team battled back from a 2-1 deficit to force a fifth and decisive set, but Alaska Anchorage out gunned the Wildcats winning the final set 15-7 to defeat CWU 3-2.
 
The loss drops the 13^th ranked Wildcats to 10-3 on the season with a 3-2 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  The Seawolves improve to 11-3, 5-1 in the GNAC.
 
"I think we played well enough to beat Anchorage tonight," CWU Head Coach Mario Andaya said. "But in the end they were more physical than we were which caused us to miss some defensive assignments."
 
Alaska Anchorage jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first set and never looked back, defeating the Wildcats 25-16 in the set.  The Seawolves hit a remarkable .500 in the first set as the Wildcats hit just .172.
 
Central rebounded in the second set as they turned the tables, outhitting UAA .350 to .190 as they rolled to a 25-19 win heading into intermission.
 
The seesaw battle continued in the third and fourth sets with UAA narrowly edging CWU 25-21 in the third set and CWU winning 25-22 in the fourth set.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Seawolves ran out to a 13-3 lead, as the Wildcats were unable to find a rhythm in the set losing 15-7.
 
"We just didn't execute in the final set, and they did," Andaya explained. "We thought we had a good idea of their tendencies going into the set, but we didn't execute and it cost us."
 
Kiah Jones led the Wildcats with 18 kills, and Kaitlin Quirk added nine kills on 24 attempts hitting .292.
 
Alaska Anchorage was led by Katelynn Zanders who had a match-high 20 kills and hit .250.
 
Up next, the Wildcats travel to 11^th ranked Western Washington University and Simon Fraser University on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4.