ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Wildcats volleyball team (17-3, 15-2 GNAC) claimed their first GNAC title since 2005 after sweeping the Saint Martin's University Saints (6-19, 4-13 GNAC) Thursday evening at Nicholson Arena 3-0.
 
Quoting Head Coach Mario Andaya
"This was a special night for a lot of reasons, but more for the fact that the team loves playing and playing for each other. We won a Championship because of hard work and faith. The leadership on this team was the catalyst and as a coach to sit back and watch them thrive on their own is such a blessing from God."
 
How It Happened
The Wildcats were able to sweep the Saints by scores of 25-10 (Set One), 25-18 (Set Two), and 25-15 (Set Three). Simon Fraser was defeated by Alaska Fairbanks later that evening to seal the championship for Central Washington for the first time in 19 years.
 
The 'Cats were led by Ellie Marble, who scored 14 kills, followed by Scottie Ellsworth, Corinne Westby, and Marianna Payne, who all scored seven kills each. Marble also led the team in hitting, going 14-21 for a .667 percentage. Kate Stidham kept the offense clicking with her 21 assists. Morgan Halady led the team in blocks with five total. Payne jumped into a strong defensive spot, leading the team in digs with 12 total, and Libero Hannah Stires recorded 11 digs.
 
The match began evenly with both teams battling for points, leading the score to a 4-3 lead for CWU. Then, the Wildcat offense came alive, scoring 10 unanswered points. Saint Martin's scored a point, but that was answered by three more Central points. The 'Cats continued a pattern of answering a single point from the Saints with multiple points, eventually leading to a 22-6 lead. SMU went on a 4-1 run to trail 23-10, and then the Crimson and Black shut the door with a pair of kills from Westby and Ellsworth to win set one 25-10.
 
Set two appeared more in favor of the Saints as they took an early lead and brought the score to a 9-6 lead. Central then responded with three points to tie it at 9-9. The teams traded a point each, then CWU scored two more to take a 12-10 lead. The Wildcats continued to build on their lead as the score went up to 23-17. Zoey Crimin got a point for SMU as they only trailed by five points. However, Westby and Halady earned a kill each to take set two for the Crimson and Black 25-18.
 
Both teams started the third set neck and neck, trading the lead throughout the first 10 points. Then, with the score tied at 10-10, CWU caught a stride and scored three straight points to lead 13-10. The teams continued to trade points as Central held its lead. The Saints fought to stay within three points at 18-15, but the 'Cats caught a surge that SMU couldn't recover from as the Crimson and Black scored the next seven points unanswered to finish off the Saints 25-15 and busted out the brooms for a championship-sealing sweep.
 
Up Next
The Wildcats finish off the regular season on Saturday, Nov 23 for Senior Night against the Western Oregon University Wolves at 7:00 p.m. from Nicholson Arena. Please join us for the Senior Night pregame presentations, as well as the GNAC Championship celebration postgame.