ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Wildcats volleyball team (10-5, 8-1 GNAC) finished the first half of the GNAC season with a win over Western Washington University on Saturday night, sweeping the Vikings at Nicholson Arena. 

Quoting Head Coach Mario Andaya 
"Our defense and passing was key tonight. The team did a great job preparing for this yesterday and it showed. Hannah was special tonight and led the charge in this one. Great way to close out the first half of the conference." 

How It Happened 
The 'Cats responded to their first conference loss to SFU on Thursday by dominantly sweeping the Vikings by scores of 25-18 (Set 1), 25-13 (Set 2), and 25-16 (Set 3). The win was a joint effort on the offensive side as several Wildcats showed up in the kills column including Ellie Marble (8 kills), Morgan Halady (7 kills), Marianna Payne (7 kills), and Emma Daoud-Hebert (5 kills). Hannah Stires showed up on defense, recording 24 digs for the match; over three times the amount of Marble, who was next on the list with seven digs.  

The match started with Central jumping out to a 9-3 lead. The Vikings, however, struck back and went on a 6-1 run to trail by one. The 'Cats answered with a 5-1 run of their own. The teams traded points, then Western pulled within two with the score at 18-16. The Vikings would score two more, but CWU caught a rhythm and finished off the set with a pair of kills from Marble and Payne to win 25-18. 

WWU scored to start set two, but the Wildcats answered with five straight points to lead 5-1. The two teams traded points before CWU scored four more in a row. The 'Cats were hitting strides as they answered a single Western point with another four more points to lead 14-4. The Vikings responded with three straight to cut the lead in half at 14-7. The set began to even out as both teams answered each point with their own. The Vikings fought to stay in the set, but the Crimson and Black's lead was too much as Corinne Westby closed the door with the final two kills to win the set 25-13. 

The third set began with Western reversing the script from the last set by going on a 5-1 run. Central clawed away at the lead and eventually tied it back up at 7-7. The teams fell into a neck-and-neck battle as both teams traded the lead through the first half of the set. Then, with the score at 15-15, CWU caught fire and scored seven straight points to lead 22-15. The Vikings scored one more point off a Delaney Speer kill but recorded three straight errors to close out the set 25-16, sealing the Crimson and Black's sweep over the Vikings.  

Up Next 
The Wildcats head across the Cascades next to take on the Seattle Pacific University Falcons on Thursday, Oct 24 at 7:00 p.m. from the Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle, Wash.