ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University volleyball team (5-4, 0-1) dropped their opening Great Northwest Athletic Conference match to No. 10-ranked Western Washington (7-2, 1-0) Thursday evening at Nicholson Pavilion.
 
The Wildcats fell in four sets to the Vikings (25-19, 17-25, 18-25, 19-25).
 
"The difference was Western's defense," CWU head coach Mario Andaya said. "We took some big shots against them and they dug them. Western is relentless on ball control and finding ways to get kills. We weren't resilient enough in those long rallies and they cleaned up their touches and exchanges a lot better than we did."
 
Junior outside hitter Shelby Mauritson led the Wildcats with a season-high 18 kills, recording double-digit kills for the eighth time this season. Mauritson also contributed on defense, recording a season and team-high 20 digs.
 
"Shelby's resiliency as a hitter was great," Andaya said. "There are not many people that can slow her down when she is like that. She brings other elements to the game that we rely on that she knows she can be a little bit better at. Offensively, she was one of the motors for us and kept us in some rallies."
 
Sophomore Bridgette Webb registered 12 kills with a .385 hitting percentage, and added four digs and three blocks. Senior middle blocker Sarah Joffs led the Wildcats at the net with a team-high six blocks. Sophomore Niki Cook tallied 27 assists and Gabrielle Aihara added 21 assists on the evening.
 
CWU out-hit the Vikings .294 to .216 and recorded two more kills on the way to taking the first set, 25-19. The lead was traded eight times in the early goings of the first set until a kill by Webb sparked a 3-0 run to give the Wildcats an 18-14 advantage. Central Washington would coast for the remainder of the frame, with Webb recording the closing kill.
 
The Vikings led 10-6 in the second stanza before a pair of kills by Maggie McTaggart and a 5-1 run by the Wildcats evened the score at 11-11. CWU failed to gain the lead for the entirety of the set and ultimately fell, 17-25.  
 
The Wildcats opened the second set going up 6-3 behind three kills by Mauritson, but WWU would later go on a 5-0 run to retake the lead 15-12. CWU called timeout but failed to gain momentum for the remainder of the match, falling 18-25 in the third frame and 19-25 in the fourth.
 
WWU finished the match hitting .241 as a team, while CWU managed to hit at a clip of .186. The Vikings also tallied eight more kills (60 to 52), seven more aces (7 to 0), six more digs (90 to 84) and five more assists (60 to 52) than the home squad.
 
The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday night, hosting Simon Fraser University. The Wildcats and the Clan are set to get underway at 7 p.m. inside Nicholson Pavilion.
 
-CWU-