ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The offensive juices were flowing for the Central Washington University volleyball team during a sweep of Western Oregon University, 25-21, 25-15, 25-19, in Nicholson Pavilion Thursday night. CWU moved to 14-5 on the season and 9-2 in GNAC play, while Western Oregon dropped to 6-12 overall and 2-9 in conference play.

"We got into a good rhythm offensively," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "Defensively, we started to adjust to what they were doing and had to stay the course. We emphasized a few things during the intermission that helped us out and I was pretty proud of that adjustment. I thought we did a pretty sound job overall." 

The Wildcats hit .295 (46 kills - 14 errors - 109 attempts) and held the Wolves to .106 (33-22-104). Junior outside hitter Shelby Mauritson tallied a match-high 16 kills to lead the offense. CWU totaled 46 kills to Western Oregon's 33.

"Shelby still has a long way to go," Andaya explained. "She is starting to come into her own offensively, but the ceiling is still pretty high. She works so hard in practice and it is nice to see her be consistent night in and night out."
 
Central Washington also overwhelmed the Wolves at the net, earning 7 blocks while holding WOU to just one. Middle blocker Sabrina Wheelhouse recorded five stuffs, while Mauritson, Sara Joffs and Bridgette Webb each added two.
 
CWU dished out 42 assists compared to the Wolves 32. The sophomore tandem of Niki Cook and Gabrielle Aihara collected 17 assists apiece.  
 
Libero Kyla Morgan led the teams with 17 digs, while Mauritson and Cook added nine.
 
The Wolves stormed out to a 6-1 run to begin the match, but the Wildcats would later counter with a 5-1 run of their own to level the score 17-17. A kill by Maggie McTaggart propelled the Wildcats to set point and Madison Weg closed out the frame to give the Wildcats the first set 25-21.
 
Central Washington would open the second frame on a 5-1 run thanks to a pair of kills by Mauritson and one from Joffs. The Wildcats never trailed in the second set, recording a hitting percentage of .375 and holding the Wolves to a measly .077. Mauritson tallied two more kills down the stretch to allow CWU to take the 2-0 lead in the match after clinching the second set 225-15.
 
CWU strung together another impressive run to begin the third stanza with three kills coming from Mauritson. Aihara collected a service ace to give the Wildcats a 7-1 advantage. The Wolves managed to cut the lead to just four (14-10), but the CWU attack was just too strong for them to hold on. Central Washington completed the sweep after closing out the final set scoring three straight points, to win 25-18.
 
The Wildcats will be back in Nicholson Pavilion on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. PST when they take on Concordia University (Ore.).
 
-CWU-