BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Central Washington University volleyball team renewed its rivalry with No. 2 Western Washington. The opening round of the 2019 season series belonged to the Vikings, as the Wildcats fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-18) on Saturday night. 

"We didn't make enough adjustments and WWU offense was too much for us tonight," CWU Head Coach Mario Andaya said. "We're disappointed with our defensive efforts, but we didn't produce enough kills to help the defense either. We're not going to win many contests with our opponent hitting .500. We'll learn from this one and get ready to finally play at home." 

The Wildcats (6-4, 1-1) opened the match strong with a 5-1 run in the first set against the Vikings (10-0, 2-0). Later in the match, a kill from Diana Fa'amausili pushed the score to 8-5 in favor of the Wildcats. The Vikings answered with a 5-2 run the knotted the opening set at 10. 

Back and forth action followed the tie. The two teams traded points enough to be tied eight more times in the set. With the score evened at 21-21, the Vikings put together a set-clinching 4-1 run that was capped by Calley Heilborn. The Vikings took the first set 25-22 and an early 1-0 match lead. 

The opening set was evenly matched between the two teams. The Vikings gained an edge, picking up 15 kills on a .191 hitting percentage. The Wildcats gained 13 kills on a .171 hitting percentage. The Viking defense was tough, stuffing Wildcat attacks with three blocks in the first set. Makala Swart was strong in the opening set, smashing home six kills on a .333 hitting percentage. 

More even action came at the beginning of the second set. The teams sat tied at three before the Vikings mustered an 8-3 run that gave them an 11-6 lead. Later in the set, the Vikings led 14-8 when the Wildcats put together a small 4-1 run. An ace from Gabrielle Aihara capped the run that trimmed the Viking lead to three at 15-12. 

The Vikings would had a 5-2 run that pushed their lead to 20-14. The Wildcats used a timeout in an effort to halt the Viking momentum. Momentum stayed on the home team's side as the Vikings worked their way to a 25-21 set win. 

Both teams offenses found a better rhythm in the second set. The Wildcats converted 12 kills on a .229 hitting percentage. Unfortunately for the team, the Vikings had 18 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. The Viking defense had three more blocks in the third set. Swart was strong again, adding five kills to push her total to a game-high 11 kills through two sets. 

The third set opened with point-swapping once again. A kill from Ashley Kaufman tied the set 5-5. A 6-2 run helped the Vikings grow their lead to 11-7, as the Wildcats used a timeout. The Vikings continued to extended their lead to 15-10.  

This time, the Wildcats pieced together a 7-3 run that but the Vikings lead to 18-17. The run featured kills from Julia Mellander, Bridgette Webb, Aihara and Kaufman. The one-point gap was as close as the set would get as the Vikings used a late 6-1 run to take the set 25-18 and the match 3-0. 

Swart finished the match tied for a game-high 14 kills. Swart finished the night with a double-double by digging up 10 Viking attacks. Mellander had a strong offensive performance late. She added six kills on a .385 hitting percentage. Webb and Kaufman added six kills each. Aihara had 28 assists on the evening. The Wildcat defense faced a tough task trying to keep the conference's best offense in check. Kyla Morgan led the squad with 12 digs. 

The Wildcats will play inside Nicholson Pavilion for the first time this season when they host Seattle Pacific on Thursday, Sept. 26. at 7 p.m. PT.