Volleyball Wolves Fall to No. 14 Broncos in Five

Wolves also fall to U.C. San Diego.

Salem-News.com Sports

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Western Oregon pushed No. 14 nationally ranked Cal Poly Pomona to the edge of defeat before succumbing to the Broncos in five games to wrap up play on the first day of the UC San Diego Invitational.

The Wolves held a 2-1 game edge over CPP before the Broncos rallied to take a 30-28, 24-30, 16-30, 30-16, 15-9 win. Earlier in the day, WOU lost to No. 19 nationally ranked UC San Diego in three games.

It won’t get any easier for the Wolves on Friday at the tournament, as they will tackle No. 6 Cal State LA and No. 12 Cal State San Bernardino. They wrap up play on Saturday against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Cal Poly Pomona 3, Western Oregon 2

The Broncos rallied back from a 5-2 deficit in game five to clip the Wolves and pick up their first win of the season.

WOU jumped out to a quick lead early in the fifth-game format, but the Broncos scored 11 of the next 13 points in the game to cruise to the win.

Like the fifth game, three of the four games were fairly lopsided: other than game one. That contest lasted 30 minutes, with numerous ties including 28-28 before a WOU error and a CPP block ended the game.

WOU dominated the latter half of game two, breaking a 20-18 deficit with five straight points and they never trailed again (30-24). In game three, the Wolves were never behind in a 30-16 rout, but the Broncos returned the favor by the exact same score in game four.

Katrina Johnson led the Wolves with 13 kills, while Keyanna Jenkins and Lisa Martini added 11 each. Martini also had six total blocks. Amy Herron zipped in five service aces, and Clair Carpenter had 24 digs.

Brittany Harkey led Cal Poly with 13 kills and Audrey Driscoll had 21 digs.

UC San Diego 3, Western Oregon 0

Western Oregon received a first-hand look at why UC San Diego is a top 20 team, falling to the host Tritons in three games in the 2006 season opener at the UC San Diego Invitational on Thursday morning, 30-18, 30-21, 30-28.

WOU won the first point of game one, but not much else went right in the opener. The Wolves would never lead again, as the Tritons hit .368 in the game and had five kills from Nicole Courtney (30-18).

In the second game, the two teams traded blows to 10-10, but UCSD then went on an 8-0 run and were never pushed again in the 30-21 game.

Western Oregon bolted out to a 10-6 lead in the third game before the hosts battled back to 11-11. UCSD then built a 23-18 lead, but WOU closed to 24-22. The Tritons then tried to pull away again, moving to match point at 29-25 before yet another rally pulled the visitors to within one digit at 29-28, but San Diego closed out the match from there.

Brianna Koche had 12 kills and hit .579 to lead UCSD, while Courtney finished with 11 kills and Rebecca Bailey had 10. Setter Kristin Halvorsen had 36 assists and six service aces. The Tritons hit .349 as a team and fired in 12 aces.

Western Oregon coach Joe Houck used a multitude of line-ups, and all 14 players in uniform had seen court time by the midway point of game two. Katrina Johnson led WOU with eight kills, and Claire Carpenter had 11 digs on defense.

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