ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University volleyball team continued its three game home stand with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-14) victory over the University of Alaska. The victory elevates the Wildcats to an 11-7 record, with a 7-3 mark in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
 
After a tough outing against Alaska Anchorage, the Wildcats bounced back nicely in the loud confines of the Nicholson Pavilion.
 
"We wanted to make sure that we could define how we played, win or loss," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "We really couldn't do that after the first two sets because there were so many errors. We had to clean some things up and we did."
 
Neither team found a rhythm in the first set as both teams hit under .100.  Central registered eight kills on 39 attempts for a hitting efficiency of .051.  The Wildcats held the Nanooks to a hitting efficiency of -0.022 in the first stanza and -0.027 for the match. 
 
The Nanooks came out firing in the first set, claiming four of the initial five points.
 
The Wildcats capitalized on a pair of Nanook service errors and a pair of blocks by Madison Weg and Sabrina Wheelhouse to even the score at five.
 
A back-and-forth battle ensued until kills by Wheelhouse and Bridgette Webb gave Central a 17-13 lead.
 
A few points later, CWU strung together a 4-1 run to take a 23-18 advantage.
 
Weg ended the first stanza with a kill from a set by Nikole Cook.
 
The momentum swung in the Wildcats' favor in the second set, claiming the first six points and eight of the first nine behind kills from Kiah Jones and Webb and a service ace by Jordan Deming.
 
The Nanooks compiled three straight points of their own, cutting the Wildcat lead to 13-7. Deming took a set from Cook and notched a kill, ending the Nanook's run.
 
Consecutive kills by Deming and Weg and a block by Sara Joffs gave CWU a 25-22 set victory.
 
"We served tough in the second set," Andaya said. "We got them out of system and they didn't really have much to answer. We sat back and watched them score for us a little bit and then we scored here and there. We still never really had a rhythm and it showed. When they started playing a little bit better on their side, we didn't have a very good response to it."
 
Central dropped five of the first seven points in the third set, but claimed the next three. Trailing 5-7, the Wildcats tallied a 5-0 run to capture a 10-7 lead.
 
The Nanooks never recovered and the Wildcats closed out the match on a seven-point run, with a kill from Weg cementing the victory.
 
Deming finished with eight kills, 13 digs, one service ace, and five blocks. Jones notched six kills and three digs. Weg totaled six kill, three blocks and two digs. Wheelhouse finished with a team-high eight blocks. The Wildcats finished with 14 blocks as a unit.
 
The Wildcats are back in action on Tuesday (Oct. 18) at 7 p.m. in Ellensburg against Northwest Nazarene University.
 
"We have to come back and look at some film right away," Andaya said. "We are looking forward to the challenge against NNU. They are going to be a great challenge for us and we have to play better than tonight. Nothing against Alaska, but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot and they let us off the hook a few times."
 
-CWU-