MONMOUTH, Ore. - The Central Washington University Wildcats (3-4, 1-0 GNAC) volleyball team kicked off GNAC play dominantly Thursday night, sweeping the Western Oregon University Wolves (7-2, 0-1 GNAC) 3-0. 

Quoting Head Coach Mario Andaya 
Set one, we needed all the offense we could get to win that set. Our setters did a nice job, and our hitters led by Mod [Payne] and Emma [Daoud-Hebert] gave us a lot of options to score.  After that, we fed off our defense tonight. Hannah [Stires] was incredible, and Morgan [Halady] owned the net, but the whole team defended very well against a very potent offense. WOU is very good, so it was nice to see our team respond the way we did tonight. 

How It Happened 
The Wildcats won the three sets in close contests, winning by scores of 25-22 (Set One), 26-24 (Set Two), and 25-21 (Set Three). The 'Cats were successful in their win with the efforts of Marianna Payne, who led the team with 17 kills. Lacy Cox also had a strong performance, earning 29 assists. Hannah Stires recorded 27 digs as she and the CWU defense fended off several strong scoring chances from the Wolves. 

Set one started with a back-and-forth battle between the two teams. Every WOU point was answered with a matching Wildcat point. The set remained deadlocked until the teams were tied at 12. That's when CWU built a lead off a five-point streak to lead 17-12. The Wolves answered with three straight, and the teams traded points for the next several rounds until the score was 23-22 in favor of Central. The Crimson and Black were able to close out the set off kills from Payne and Scottie Ellsworth to win 25-22. 

The 'Cats and Wolves continued the scoring trend to start the second set, leading to a quick 4-4 tie before WOU got some pad between them and CWU, leading 9-5. The Wildcats fought back, but the Wolves continued to answer the offensive chances from Central. Western Oregon began to build a larger lead of 21-15. That's when the 'Cats found a groove and went on a 9-2 run to take the 24-23 lead. With set point looming for the Wildcats, WOU scored the tying point when Payne hit the ball out of bounds on the kill attempt. Payne would redeem herself by earning the next two kills to win the set for CWU 26-24. 

Central Washington kept the momentum going into the third set, going on an 8-2 run. The Wolves earned a few points, but the Wildcats held the pressure on, at one point leading 16-7. With the match appearing to be all but won for the 'Cats, Western Oregon began to chip away at the CWU lead. 16-7 became 18-13 as the Wolves scored in streaks of two and three points. Then, with the score at 21-14, WOU scored four straight to make it a 3-point lead. The teams traded points and following a Madison Hornback kill to make the score 24-21, the Crimson and Black shut the door on the Wolves off a kill from Payne as the Wildcats broke out the brooms and sealed the sweep 25-21. 
 
Up Next 
The 'Cats head to Lacey, Wash. to take on the Saint Martin's University Saints on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 1:00 p.m.