ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Oct. 31) – Balanced attacks leading to five Western Oregon players with at least seven kills each was not enough to carry the Wolves in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference match Saturday night. The host Wildcats of Central Washington, ranked 25^th in the latest national poll, had three players with double digit kills in a four set win at Nicholson Pavilion.
 
Alisha Bettinson, Amanda Short and Mariella Vandenkooy each had eight kills for the Wolves (7-16, 4-10 GNAC) while Paige Kelsey and Sophie Hall each added seven. Christie Colasurdo led all players with 25 digs. 
 
The Wolves hit a crisp .393 as a team in their victorious third set, 25-18. That effort was unfortunately not enough to neutralize the Wildcats, who outhit the Wolves for the night (.247-.195) and had a slight edge in blocking (6-5).
 
After CWU opened the first set with the lead, Western Oregon came back to tie the set at 17-17 on a Hall kill. The Wildcats held firm and took the next three points, which proved crucial to holding on for a 25-23 win.
 
Central never trailed in the second set, pulling away from the Wolves with an early 4-0 run to build a 10-5 lead. The Wolves would within four points twice, once on a Vandenkooy service ace midway through the set.
 
The third set proved to be the best offensively for the Wolves who built a 4-1 lead on the serving rotation of Colasurdo. CWU also had the most errors of any set with seven, including an attack miscue on game point for the Wolves to grab a 25-18 victory.
 
In the fourth set, CWU broke away late from the Wolves by taking the final five points of the match.
 
Western Oregon returns home to the New P.E. Building on Thursday, Nov. 5, hosting No. 16 Western Washington at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at WOUWolves.com.