Volleyball | 10/15/2010 9:42:41 PM

Box Score [Box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Corynn Kopra had 11 kills and Nikki Conley added a double-double to help Western Oregon take down Simon Fraser in four sets, 23-25, 25-14, 25-13 and 25-11, on Friday, Oct. 15.

The win gave Western Oregon (9-7, 7-4 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) a half-game lead over Central Washington for fourth place in the conference standings and dropped Simon Fraser to 3-9 in the GNAC (3-13 overall).

Western Oregon started five freshmen today and it showed in the stat sheet as a number of Wolves came up with career-best matches. Conley set a personal-best with 20 assists and 12 digs for her first career double-double. Kopra hammered down 11 kills for the best performance of her career and the Wolves also got seven digs from Katie Bashaw.

"It was great seeing the young kids out there," said Western Oregon head coach Brad Saindon. "Corynn was terrific. She is a very good volleyball player and I wanted to get her some work and get her some experience because down the stretch she could be a really key player for us.

"I thought Nikki was very good tonight," Saindon continued. "I know Nikki and Corynn are friends so I know Nikki enjoyed setting Corynn and Corynn enjoyed hitting it from Nikki, so that was good to see.

"It was also the first match that Katie Bashaw has played the whole match so I was happy and I thought she played good," Saindon concluded. "It is a wonderful thing for a coach to put young players in and give them experience."

Western Oregon also received strong performances from freshmen Krissi Kemper and Becky Blees who had seven kills each, and sophomore Samantha Ward who had nine kills without making an error for a career-best .474 hitting percentage.

The Wolves' youth on the court showed early in the match when they lost the opening set and seemed to be just a half-step slow. However, WOU would regroup and fire on all cylinders to win the final three sets.

In the second set, WOU notched a .414 hitting percentage by registering 13 kills in 29 attempts with just one error. It would use a 6-0 run to finish off the set and tie the match at one set apiece.

In the third set, Western Oregon capitalized on a great string of serves by Danielle Reese and put together an 11-0 run to extend the Wolves' lead from 12-11 to 23-11.

In the fourth set, WOU would never trail as it jumped out to a 4-0 and 8-3 lead and coasted to the 25-11 win.

Western Oregon will return to the road next week. It will travel to Montana State Billings on Thursday (Oct. 21) and to Seattle Pacific on Saturday (Oct. 23).