TAMPA, Fla. – The Central Washington University volleyball team split the final two matches of the 2017 Terrace Hotels Classic on Saturday afternoon to finish 3-1 over the weekend. The Wildcats fell to No. 1 Concordia University, St. Paul in four sets before bouncing back to sweep Pace University.
The opening match of the day featured the Wildcats squaring off against defending national champions Concordia. CWU and CSP split the first two sets (23-25 and 25-21) before the Golden Bears took the final two sets (19-25 and 17-25) to close out the win.
In a battle between the two lone undefeated teams on the first day of the tournament, the Wildcats fall to 0-3 in the all-time series against the Golden Bears. CSP previously grabbed sweeps back in 2008 and 2015 against Central Washington.
The Wildcats battled back from seven-point deficit (10-17) to even the score at 21 in the first set. The Golden Bears, however, outlasted CWU and were able to take the opening stanza 25-23.
The second frame was also tightly contested. With an even, 20-20, score, the Wildcats strung together a 5-1 run thanks to back-to back kills and a block by
Madison Weg to close out the set in Central's favor, 25-21.
Despite a Central 3-1 run open the third set, the Golden Bears controlled the tempo for the majority of the frame. Scoring points in bunches, CSP closed out the frame on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 2-1.
The Wildcats pulled out to a quick 4-1 lead in the final stanza with two kills coming from
Maggie McTaggart. A three-point run by CSP evened the set, 4-4. The Wildcats were unable to regain the lead for the remainder of the frame, falling 17-25.
Shelby Mauritson finished with team-high 13 kills.
Sabrina Wheelhouse notched nine kills (four blocks), followed by
Maggie McTaggart and
Bridgette Webb with eight. Gaby Aihara dished out 19 assists, while
Niki Cook picked up 17. Mauritson and sophomore libero
Kyla Morgan recorded 17 digs each.
The final match of the weekend featured a dominant defensive display from the Wildcats. Bouncing back from their tough loss earlier in the afternoon, Central Washington recorded their third sweep of the tournament against Pace University (25-19, 25-18, 25-13).
"We had pretty intense match with the #1 team in the country right before so it would've been easy to over look Pace," CWU head coach
Mario Andaya explained. "They were going to be a different puzzle to figure out so we had to stay in the moment and just play."
While the offense played the key role in Central's two opening day wins, the defense came through in Saturday's second contest. The Wildcats held Pace University to .080 hitting for the match, including .061 in the third set to close out the victory. The defense forced 22 hitting errors while picking up 51 digs and 8.0 blocks. By comparison, CWU committed 11 hitting errors while PU totaled 55 digs and one block. CWU also quadrupled the Setters in service aces at 4-1, as well as led in kills (41-31) and assists (38-28).
CWU's blocking was spread fairly even as three different players registered at least two blocks, led by Wheelhouse's seven. Outside hitter
Bridgette Webb was one of the three as she collected three blocks to go along with seven kills and three digs.
On offense, the Wildcats were led by McTaggart who recorded ten kills on 22 attempts (.409) to go along with seven digs. Wheelhouse tallied an impressive .545 hitting percentage with seven kills.
"I felt we weren't as sharp to start the match, but it was just getting used to their style and strengths," Andaya said. "Once we got locked in we got a good flow and used our physicality to our advantage. It was nice to see us get composed and work for a win."
Central will return home next week to host the West Region Showcase in the Nicholson Pavilion from Sept. 7-9.
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