ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Oct. 8) – The Central Washington University volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 victory over the University of Alaska Fairbanks with set scores of 25-22, 25-9, and 25-14.  Central Washington is now 10-4 and 6-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.  Fairbanks falls to 2-12, with a 2-5 record in GNAC play.

The Nanooks stormed out to a 9-3 lead to open the match.  Fairbanks held their lead for a majority of the set.  With the set at 16-13 the Wildcats mounted a comeback. 

"Fairbanks came out and served extremely tough," CWU Head Coach Mario Andaya said afterward.  "That's one of their strengths.  We had to make sure we were doing our end to neutral that and we didn't.  We didn't get caught off guard, but we knew they were going to serve tough.  We had a little trouble in the first set handling that and gave them a few points at the service line.  We had to make our way back and I am proud how we came back in that first set.  From there we settled down and passed a little better."

Despite the strong start the Nanooks did not register a service ace in the opening set and had just two all match, something the team has done well this season.  Riley Podowicz came into the match as one of the toughest servers in the GNAC with 32 service aces.

"On those types of serve you try to keep it in front of you to give our setter the best chance to make a play," Andaya said of his team's serve receive effort.  "In the second and third set we kept the ball in front of our passers better and didn't give the direct points on the service ace."
Madison Weg took a set from Catie Fry and found the floor to give the Wildcats the serve and make the set 16-14.  Kiah Jones notched a kill to bring Central within one.  Weg notched the equalizer to level the set, 16-16.  An attack error by the Nanooks' outside hitter Podowicz put the Wildcats' up 17-16 briefly.  The Nanooks evened the set on the next point.

After see-sawing back and forth, the set stood at 21-21.  Linden Firethorne registered a kill, before an attack error by Fairbanks' outside hitter Amberl Jeane put the Wildcats with a 23-21 advantage.  A timeout by the Nanooks led to a Wildcat service error to bring Fairbanks back within one. 

Weg responded with a kill, putting set point within reach for CWU.  Maddie Davis committed an attack error for Fairbanks and the Wildcats took set one, 25-22.  

Firethorne recorded six kills during the first set, while Weg added four.  The Wildcats held the Nanooks to a hitting percentage of .000 in the first set.

Firethorne finished with 19 kills, on 36 attempts, with seven errors, finishing with a hitting efficiency of .333.  Weg totaled eight kills, on 12 attempts, with 1 error, finishing with a .583 hitting efficiency.

The Wildcats pounced and the Nanooks went into hibernation after the first set.  Central Washington stormed out to a 16-4 lead and kept the Nanooks to under 10 points in the set.  It is the first time this season the Wildcats have held an opponent to under 10 points in a non-fifth set. 
The Wildcats' defense forced the Nanooks to a negative hitting efficiency in the second set.  Fairbanks finished the second set with a -.125 efficiency.  The Nanooks did not have a positive hitting efficiency in any of the sets, they hit: .000, -.125, -.031.
Central Washington opened with an 8-0 run and did not look back.  Firethorne recorded 10 kills in the third set.  Rachel Hanses picked up a pair of kills and a pair of service aces.

Hanses finished with four kills and three service aces. 

"We served pretty tough, they were having trouble with our serves," Andaya added.  "They couldn't really get their offense going there weren't a lot of aggressive attacks from their part.  Our block was trying to hold steady, but we didn't get a lot of opportunities to block, instead we dug the ball well.  It's just the type of game it turned out to be.  We served well, they gave us some free shots, and we took advantage of them."

The Wildcats recorded 43 kills, 36 of which went through Fry.  Lindsey Milner picked up 11 digs, while Firethorne registered 10.  Central Washington hit .271 on the match, including an efficiency of .423 in the second set.

The Wildcats be back in action on Saturday (Oct. 10) in a GNAC match against Anchorage.  First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.