Match 15: Central Washington vs. Saint Martin's
Thursday, Oct. 5 | 7:00 p.m. PST
Lacey, Wash. | Marcus Pavilion
Stream:
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Live Stats
Match 16: Central Washington vs. Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Sept. 30 | 7 p.m. PST
Seattle, Wash. | Brougham Pavilion
Stream:
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Live Stats
FIRST SERVE
The Central Washington Wildcats (10-4, 5-1) continues GNAC play this week with a pair of in-state rivals on the docket. CWU will face Saint Martin's University (6-8, 1-5) this Thursday (Oct. 5) in Lacey, Wash. The Wildcats will then travel to Seattle to face Seattle Pacific University (9-5, 4-2) on Saturday (Oct. 7). First serve against the Saints and Falcons is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
CWU is currently riding a five-match win streak. Last Saturday, the Wildcats swept No. 21 Alaska Fairbanks 3-0 thanks to nine kills and a .318 hitting percentage from junior
Maggie McTaggart. Earlier in the week, Central Washington outlasted the Nanooks of Alaska Fairbanks with a five-set decision.
The Wildcats enter the week ranked third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 5-1 conference record. CWU ranks first in blocks (3.09/set), second in opponent hitting percentage (.149), fourth in hitting percentage (.211) and fifth in kills (12.80/set).
CWU LEADERS
Junior
Shelby Mauritson leads the team and ranks sixth in the conference with 186 kills and a 3.44 kills per set average. She also ranks second on the team and 13th in the conference with 196 digs (3.63 digs/set).
Junior
Maggie McTaggart follows with 128 kills and ranks second on the team with 2.46 kills per set. Senior
Sabrina Wheelhouse has tallied 111 kills (2.06 kills/set) and ranks first on the team with a .339 hitting percentage. Wheelhouse also leads the team at the net with 93 total blocks (1.72 blocks/set), while
Sarah Joffs follows with 54 total blocks (1.29 blocks/set).
Sophomore
Niki Cook has tallied a team-high 310 assists and 5.74 assists per set average. Sophomore
Gabrielle Aihara has registered 268 assists and a 4.96 assists per set average and leads the team with 18 service aces.
Leading the Wildcats in digs is sophomore libero
Kyla Morgan with a total of 263 (4.87 digs/set), which ranks fifth in the conference.
MORGAN NAMED GNAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Central Washington University sophomore libero
Kyla Morgan has been named this week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.
Morgan helped lead CWU to a 2-0 record this past week, which included upsetting No. 21 Alaska Anchorage.
The Graham, Wash., native totaled 48 digs over the week, including 27 digs in CWU's win over the Seawolves this past Saturday in Nicholson Pavilion. She tallied 6.86 digs-per-set and played a key role in CWU limiting opposing teams to a combined hitting percentage of just .122.
Morgan leads the Wildcats and ranks fifth in the GNAC in digs-per-set (4.87) and total digs (263). She has also accounted for 52 assists and 10 service aces this season.
This marks the first GNAC weekly honor for Morgan, and is the second accolade for the Wildcats this season. Senior
Sabrina Wheelhouse was tabbed the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week last Monday.
WILDCATS RECEIVE VOTES IN LATEST AVCA POLL
Coming off a 2-0 week, the Central Washington Wildcats received 14 votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Top-25 Poll, which ranks tenth among teams that just missed making the top-25. In the West region, the Wildcats rank seventh, just behind undefeated No. 12 Northwest Nazarene.
NCAA STATISTICAL LEADERS
CWU enters the week ranked first in the GNAC and nation with 274 total blocks and 3.09 blocks per set..
Wheelhouse ranks first in the GNAC and the nation in blocks per set (1.72) and total blocks (93). Wheelhouse also ranks second in the GNAC with a .353 hitting percentage.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Saint Martin's
The Saints are looking to get back on track after dropping their last four Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches. Last week, SMU fell in a tightly-contested battle against Seattle Pacific in five-sets on Thursday before being swept by Montana State Billings on Saturday. The Saints currently rank tenth in the GNAC and are led by senior Rebecca Mitchell, who averages 2.69 kills per set. Defensively, Kamille Lanford has tallied a team-high 41 blocks. Three Saints have accumulated more at least 150 digs including: Hannah Neumann (172), Rebecca Mitchell (165) and Courtney Misner (153). True freshman Emily Gooding leads SMU with 14 service aces (.28/set) followed by Megan Vernoy with 12. Senior Nicolette Nesbitt dishes out 9.22 assists per set for Saint martins, totaling 461 on the season.
Seattle Pacific
Seattle Pacific improved to 9-5 on the season and 4-2 in GNAC matches after picking up a pair of victories last week against Saint Martin's (3-2) and Montana State Billings (3-2). The Falcons currently rank fourth in the conference, just behind the Wildcats in third. Gabby Oddo has registered a team-high 195 kills (3.36/set), followed by Olivia Turner with 155. Symone Tran dishes out 9.80 assists per set for the Falcons and Nicole Tchabanov controls the net with a total of 54 blocks on the season.
-CWU-
