FAIRBANKS, Alaska --  The Central Washington University volleyball team defeated Alaska 3-1 (25-18, 26-28, 25-14, 25-18) Thursday night to improve to 15-10 on the season, 11-6 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.  The Nanooks fell to 2-22, 1-16 GNAC.
 
Offensively the Wildcats were led by Shelby Mauritson and Kiah Jones who had 14 and 12 kills, respectively, helping the Wildcats to hit .301 on the night with just 16 attack errors.
 
"Kiah was steady tonight and the setter did a good job finding her in big situations,"  CWU Head Coach Mario Andaya said.  "I like how our seniors are responding, and it's great we can pull out some wins because of their play."
 
The CWU block continued its dominance at the net, with 13 total blocks, with Erin Little leading the way with 3.5, followed by Sabrina Wheelhouse's 2.5.
 
The Wildcats came out firing in the first set where they hit .360 as a team.  Back-to-back kills by Little and Jones helped the Wildcats jump out to a 3-1 lead before the Wildcats increased the advantage to 10-3 using a 5-0 run aided by three Alaska attack errors.  Central closed out the set by scoring five of the last six points of the match, the final a kill by Jones on an assist from Niki Cook.
 
After leading 9-6 in set two, the Wildcats fell behind 9-11 after a five point run by the Nanooks.   The rest of the set went back and forth before a pair of CWU attack errors and a kill by Angela Molesworth gave the Nanooks the 28-26 set victory.
 
"We did a good job responding after the second set," Andaya said.  "Alaska passed well and were in-system most of the set, which kept a lot of pressure on us.  We made some minor adjustments on their big hitters the rest of the match which helped us settle in."
 
Central Washington came out of intermission swinging as they hit .435 in the frame with just two attack errors.  The Wildcats went on a 7-0 to close out the set with Madison Weg, Wheelhouse, Jordan Deming, and Shelby Mauritson each recording a kill in the process.
 
Three attack errors by Alaska to start the fourth set sparked a 5-2 lead to open the stanza.  Central again ended the set strong, scoring four of the final five tallies, powered by Mauritson who had an ace and a kill down the stretch.
 
The Wildcats return to action Saturday when they travel to Alaska Anchorage at 9 p.m. PST.