MONMOUTH, Ore. – On a night where Western Oregon University's volleyball team committed only seven hitting errors and seven players registered at least one kills, the Wolves returned to their winnings way with a three-set sweep, 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-17), over the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play Saturday inside the New P.E. Building.

Western Oregon (4-18, 2-12 GNAC) was led offensively by Alisha Bettinson with nine kills and a match-high three service aces, while Hannah Deede and Lani Kalalau provided six kills each for the Wolves. Sydney Blankinship also contributed offensively with five kills, while Jordin Ramos and Kiana Cash combined to hand out 27 assists for WOU. Defensively, Christie Colasurdo led the Wolves with a match-high 17 digs with Ramos and Cash both registered a pair of service aces for WOU. At the net, Western Oregon combined for 10.0 blocks with Sam Moore leading the way with five assist blocks on the night.

Alaska Fairbanks was led offensively by Oregon-native Sam Harthun with a match-high 18 kills, while Brooke Mattice chipped in with eight kills of her own. Miranda Grieser ran the Nanooks' offense with a match-high 33 assists, while Harthun and Tessa Butterfield both registered double-digit dig totals with 11 and 10, respectively.

The opening set would belong to Western Oregon, as the Wolves quickly built a four-point lead (7-4) on a service ace by Bettinson. WOU would increase its lead to 10-4 on a kill by Cherene O'Hara before Alaska stormed back to within three points (12-9) on a kill by Harthun. That would be as close as the Nanooks would get though, as Western Oregon used a 4-1 run to pull ahead by six points (16-10) on a service ace by Cash. The visiting Nanooks would get back within four points (21-17) before Western Oregon closed out the first set on a 4-1 run with Alaska committing back-to-back attack errors in the end of a 25-18 victory for the Wolves.

Set #2 began with the match's only tie (1-1) before Western Oregon used a 6-1 run to pull ahead by five points (7-2) on a hitting error by Alaska. The Nanooks would get within two points (11-9) before Western Oregon scored four unanswered points to increase its lead to 15-9 on another Alaska hitting error. The Wolves would pull ahead by a set-high margin of eight points (23-15) on a service ace by Bettinson before Western Oregon closed out the middle set on a combo block by O'Hara and Blankinship for the 25-19 victory.

The third and final set showcased Western Oregon's offense and serving over the opening 13 combined points, as the Wolves jump out to a 10-3 lead that included three combo blocks by Moore and Bettinson, Deede and Moore, and O'Hara and Blankinship. Alaska would get within five points (10-5) before Western Oregon increased its lead to nine points (18-9) on a kill by Bettinson. The Nanooks would not get any closer than five points (21-16) for the remainder of the match, as the Wolves cruised to a 25-17 win on a match-ending kill by Deede.

As a team, Western Oregon hit .272 (32-7-92) compared to Alaska's .068 (37-29-118). The Wolves committed only four combined errors in the opening two sets before registering three attack errors in the third and final set.

Western Oregon will return to action on Thursday, November 6, when the Wolves begin their final road trip of the regular season taking on the Clan of Simon Fraser beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Burnaby, British Columbia.

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Western Oregon def. Alaska 25-18,25-19,25-17

Alaska (3-20, 3-12 GNAC) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Harthun,Sam
18-0-0; Mattice,Brooke 8-1-0; Podowicz,Riley 5-0-0; Butterfield,Tessa
5-2-0; Hudson,Lilah 1-0-0; Grieser,Miranda 0-1-0; Totals 37-4-0.0.
(Assists) - Grieser,Miranda 35. (Dig leaders) - Harthun,Sam 11;
Butterfield,Tessa 10; Olsen,Meagan 9; Hesterman,Samantha 9

Western Oregon (4-18, 2-12 GNAC) (Kills-aces-blocks) -
Bettinson,Alisha 9-3-2; Deede,Hannah 6-0-3; Kalalau,Lani 6-0-1;
Blankinship,Sydney 5-0-4; O'Hara,Cherene 4-0-4; Ober,Maddi 1-0-1;
Moore,Samantha 1-0-5; Ramos,Jordin 0-2-0; Cash,Kiana 0-2-0; Totals
32-7-10.0. (Assists) - Ramos,Jordin 14; Cash,Kiana 13. (Dig leaders) -
Colasurdo,Christie 17; Bettinson,Alisha 7

Site: Monmouth, Ore. (New PE Building)

Date: Nov 01, 2014   Attend: 189   Time: 1:30

Referees: Marsha Costly, Mary Jacobson