#13 Central Washington Fends Off Western Oregon, 3-1

Up next for the Wolves is a home game Thursday against Alaska Fairbanks. First serve is set for 7:00 PM.

File photo: Western Oregon University

ELLENSBURG, WASHINGTON - Junior Stephanie Powell had a career-high 23 kills and added 16 digs to help lead Central Washington to a 30-32, 31-29, 33-31, 30-28 victory over visiting Western Oregon on Saturday night at Nicholson Pavilion.

The 13th-ranked Wildcats (13-1, 4-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) extended their home win streak to 28 matches with the victory, and dodged the upset bid from a very strong defensive squad in Western Oregon (3-11, 1-3 GNAC).

Each game was close, as neither team was ever able to pull away from the other. In the opening game, Central Washington led 26-22 before Western Oregon scored six straight points to go in front by two. The Wildcats tied the score at 28-all, and then again at 29-all after trailing, and they had a 30-29 lead, but three straight Wolves points were capped by a kill from Katrina Johnson as WOU took the first game.

Each of the next two games were equally tight. After 17 ties and 10 lead changes, Central escaped with the game-two win after back-to-back hitting errors by Western Oregon turned a 29-all tie into a Wildcat victory. The third frame saw almost as many ties (16) and lead changes (nine) as the second before a Maggie Olson kill and another WOU attack error enabled Central to come away with a 33-31 victory.

In the fourth and final game, Western Oregon built a seven-point lead at 20-13 before Central Washington stormed back. The Wildcats reeled off 11 of the next 15 tallies to knot the score at 24 apiece, only to watch the Wolves regain the lead. Tie scores at 26-26 and 27-27 ensued before Central exploited consecutive attack errors, but while serving for match point, Shakira Jenkins atoned for her last two miscues with a kill to keep Western Oregon alive. However, after a long rally on the next play, CWU sophomore Rachael Schurman found the court for her 14th kill of the match to preserve the Wildcats' home win streak and extend its overall win streak to 11 matches.

Powell exploded for 23 kills, including 15 in the first two games, to surpass her previous career-best of 16 kills. Three of her teammates, Kristin Pasley, Schurman, and Morgan Zamora also reached double digits in that department with 17, 14 and 12, respectively. Central Washington finished with a 74-60 advantage in kills and a .170-.138 edge in hitting percentage, but the Wildcats were plagued by 38 attack errors and 11 service miscues.

Western Oregon was led by the 21-kill, six-block performance of Jenkins off the bench. Johnson finished with 15 kills, while setter Amy Herron notched 45 assists and 23 digs for the Wolves. Freshman Jessica Baty led all players with 25 digs and six service aces for WOU, which held a 92-83 advantage in digs and outblocked the Wildcats by a 15-12 count.

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