BURNABY, B.C. – After battling back from a two-set deficit, Western Oregon University's volleyball team fell in five sets to Simon Fraser, 3-2 (22-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 12-15), in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play Thursday inside West Gymnasium.

Beginning its final road trip of the season, Western Oregon (4-19, 2-13 GNAC) fell behind after the opening two sets only to battle back with wins in the third and fourth sets before dropping the fifth and final set to Simon Fraser (15-8, 9-6 GNAC) on the Wolves' next-to-last Thursday match of the year.

Alisha Bettinson led WOU with a season-high 17 kills, while Cherene O'Hara, Sam Moore, and Hannah Deede added 10, 8, and 8 kills, respectively. Maddi Ober and Lani Kalalau chipped in with seven kills each, while Jordin Ramos and Kiana Cash combined to hand out 50 assists for the Wolves. Defensively, Christie Colasurdo registered a match, season, and career-high 42 digs with Moore providing six blocks at the net for WOU.

Simon Fraser was led by a quartet of players with double-digit kill totals, as Kelsey Robinson led all players with a match-high 20 kills to go along with 14 by Madeline Hait, 12 by Devon May, and 11 from Amanda Renkema. Offensively, the Clan were led by Brooklyn Gould-Bradbury and Danielle Curtis with a combined 56 assists to go along with 29 digs by Allison McKay. At the net, Simon Fraser got a match-high 10 blocks from Hait as the Clan registered two more blocks (13-to-11) than Western Oregon.

In the opening set, Western Oregon built a quick 5-2 lead before Simon Fraser used a 16-10 run to pull ahead by three points (18-15) on kill by Hait. Western Oregon would get back within a single point (22-21) on a Clan attack error before Simon Fraser closed out Set #1 on a 3-1 run en route to earning a 25-22 victory.

Set #2 began with Simon Fraser grabbing a 7-4 lead on a kill by Renkema before Western Oregon battled back within one point (7-6) on a Clan attack error. Simon Fraser would never relinquish its lead, as the Clan slowly built their advantage to six points (20-14) on a combo block by Hait and Robinson. The Wolves would erase SFU's lead with a 9-3 run that knotted the set at 23-23 after a kill by O'Hara. After the two teams traded points and had things tied again at 24-all, Simon Fraser scored the final two points on back-to-back kills by Robinson for the hard-fought 26-24 victory and a two-set lead heading into the break.

In the third set, Simon Fraser built a quick 6-1 lead before Western Oregon used a 7-2 run to tie things at 8-8 on a kill by Kalalau. Both teams would trade the lead back-and-forth until the set was tied at 12-all, as Simon Fraser scored three straight points en route to grabbing a 15-12 lead on a kill by Hait. Western Oregon would erase the Clan's lead once again with the two teams going back-and-forth until it was tied at 20-20 on a kill by Bettinson. WOU would close out the set on a 5-2 run en route to earning its first set victory of the night on a kill by Moore for the 25-22 win.

Set #4 belonged to Western Oregon from the beginning, as the Wolves gained the lead to start and never relinquished it. WOU jumped out to a 5-1 lead on a kill by Bettinson before the Wolves pushed their lead to as much as seven points (15-8) on a kill by Deede. Simon Fraser would get as close as three points (16-13) on a combo block by Hait and May before Western Oregon closed out the set scoring nine of the final 16 points for the 25-20 win.

In the fifth and final set, Western Oregon scored the opening point on a kill by Deede before Simon Fraser scored four unanswered points en route to taking a 4-1 lead. The Wolves would fight back to tie the set at 6-all on a kill by O'Hara only to watch the Clan scored four straight points and take a 10-6 lead. SFU would pull ahead by five points (12-7) on a block by Hait before Western Oregon battled back to within two points (13-11) on a kill by Bettinson. Unfortunately that would be as close as WOU would get, as Simon Fraser scored two of the match's final three points en route to earning the 15-12 victory that secured the Clan's five-set win.

Despite Western Oregon registering a better hitting percentage (.196) than Simon Fraser (.140), the Wolves could not overcome 12 service errors against the Clan.

The Wolves will close out its final road trip of the regular season on Saturday, November 8, against No. 9-ranked Western Washington University beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Bellingham, Washington.