BURNABY, B.C.- The Central Washington University women's volleyball team (19-8, 14-5 GNAC) dropped a road decision to Simon Fraser University (14-13, 11-8 GNAC) in four sets Thursday night at the West Gym in Canada.
 
CWU led Simon Fraser in blocks (11-9) and service aces (5-2), but the Clan held the edge in kills (64-45), hitting percentage (.241-.119), assists (63-42) and digs (89-69).  
 
Along with 13 kills on the evening, junior outside hitter Shelby Mauritson notched her 19th double-double of the season after tallying 13 digs. Mauritson also recorded a service ace Thursday evening.  
 
Junior Maggie McTaggart tallied nine kills, followed by Madison Weg with 7 kills and Sabrina Wheelhouse with six.
 
Sophomore Gabrielle Aihara ran the offense for the Wildcats, dishing out 19 assists in the match. Niki Cook tallied 16 assists of her own to go with eight digs.
 
Defensively, the Wildcats were led by sophomore libero Kyla Morgan. Morgan totaled a team-high 16 digs. Controlling the net was the senior tandem of Wheelhouse and Sarah Joffs. Wheelhouse recorded five total blocks and Joffs totaled four blocks.
 
Mauritson recorded three of CWU's nine kills in the opening frame, but Simon Fraser would come away with the win, 25-20. Both teams traded points early in the frame, but a 5-0 run by the Clan would give them an 8-6 advantage. The Wildcats battled back to even the score six times in the set, but kills by SFU's Christine Howlett and Tessa May gave Simon Fraser the edge.
 
The second frame was tightly contested until SFU strung together a 5-0 run to jump out to a 14-9 lead and cause CWU to burn a timeout. The Clan kept things rolling for the remainder of the set, breezing to a 25-13 victory.
 
CWU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set following a kill by Webb and a service ace by Morgan. Tied 20-20, the Wildcats rallied behind the play of Aihara down the stretch to seal their first set win of the match, 25-23.
 
The fourth stanza featured 15 ties and five lead changes. A kill by Web notched the score 21-21 late in the set. SFU closed out the frame with a 4-2 run to give Simon Fraser the set and match victory.
 
Wildcats will close out their regular season on Saturday, Nov. 18 when they face rival Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST on WECU Court at Carver Gym.
 
-CWU-