ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University volleyball team played well in their home opener, sweeping Montana State Billings University 3-0 Saturday evening by set scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 27-25.  
 
"It is great to be back home," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "The girls were pumped to play in front of the home crowd and I'm proud of how they played against a tough Billings team. Billings poses a lot of problems. They can keep the ball alive and they have some big guns on the outside that can irritate you."
 
"We knew that Billings was a scrappy team," Andaya continued. "We knew that our offense was going to get going at some point and we just had to stay the course. When they were digging the balls, we had to return the favor and do our part to extend the rallies."

It was all Central early in the first set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead behind kills by Erin Little, Kiah Jones and Shelby Mauritson.
 
The Yellow Jackets rallied back to close the gap to 12-11 with kills coming from Stormy Siemion and Bre Rodrigues.
 
It was back and forth for the remainder of the first set until the Wildcats went on an 8-2 run en route to a 25-18 set victory.
 
The second set featured Central rallying from two deficits early before taking a 14-13 lead behind consecutive blocks by Sarah Joffs.
 
CWU kept the momentum rolling, capitalizing on a pair of attack errors by the Yellow Jackets and service ace by Little to extend the lead to 18-14.
 
The Wildcats breezed through the remainder of the second set, finishing with a 4-0 run to seal the set victory 25-19.
 
Montana State Billings jumped out to another early lead in set three, 3-1, but again could not hold it. Central claimed points in bunches, including three straight points to level the score 4-4.
 
The Wildcats jumped out to a 21-13 late in the set, but a 11-3 spurt by the Yellow Jackets tied the set 24-24.
 
In a deafening, packed Nicholson Pavilion, the Wildcats sealed the set and the match 27-25 with consecutive kills by Little and Jones.
 
Weg finished the match with a team-high eight kills and 0.316 hitting efficiency. Jones finished with seven kills, while Jordan Deming tallied six. Kyla Morgan led the Wildcats with 15 digs and Mauritson recorded five kills, 11 digs and two service aces.
 
As a unit, CWU finished with 35 kills, nine aces, nine blocks, 28 assists and 57 digs.
 
Central is back in action on Thursday (Sept. 29) for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match against Saint Martin's University. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.