MONMOUTH, Ore. – A chance to knock off another ranked team presented itself Saturday night for the Western Oregon volleyball team. The Wolves forced the No. 23 Western Washington Vikings to a fifth set before dropping a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest in the deciding set. Scores of the match were 13-25, 26-24, 18-25, 25-23, 11-15. WOU drops to 5-8 on the year and 2-4 in GNAC play.
 
In the deciding fifth set, WWU jumped out to a 4-0 advantage and extended the lead to 10-5. WOU fought back to get back within three on a Sydney Blankinship kill, an Amanda Short swinging point and a solo block from Mariella Vandenkooy. The Vikings scored three of the next four points forcing WOU to withstand five potential match points. Alisha Bettinson kept the match alive with a kill and the duo of Blankinship and Maddie Mehciz combined on a block to pull within 11-14. The Vikings closed out a tight match blocking a Bettinson swing to hold on for their fourth league win, improving to 8-6 for the season.
 
WOU fell behind 11-1 in set one and came within five after a 5-1 run midway in the game. The Vikings were able to hold off the Wolves and take the first set, 25-13. The Wolves hit .000 for the game with eight errors.
 
In set two, the Wolves stormed out to a 15-10 advantage scoring eight points during the service rotation of Christie Colasurdo. Western Oregon kept feeding the hot swinging Short, who had four kills during the string and assisted the Wolves' blockers into three WWU errors. The Vikings found their footing and rallied to tie the game four times, including 24-all. WOU took a 25-24 lead with an error and Bettinson put away the set with a kill from a great set from Maddie Mehciz. Both teams hit .245 for the set.
 
In the third set. the teams played ping-pong with the lead. Western Washington led 5-1 and extended it out to an 8-3 lead. WOU exploded for eight straight points with kills by Vandenkooy and Paige Orth while tough serving from Libbie Hoene produced three aces. Momentum swung back to the Viking after they scored seven of the next eight points to take a 15-12 lead. A Blankiship kill pulled the Wolves within a point at 17-16, but WWU reeled off six successive points and won the set, 25-18.
 
In set four, Bettintson took over as the main offensive threat. In a tight set that saw four points be the largest lead, Bettinson had eight kills including the game winning swing to send the match to a ffith set after a 25-23 win.
 
Bettinson led WOU with 20 kills (.204) while adding 16 digs for a double-double. Vandenkooy (.308) and Short each had 10 kills. Mehciz also had a double-double with 52 assists and 14 digs. The Wolves had a 92 to 83 advantage in digs led by Christie Colasurdo with 22.
 
Western Oregon hits the road to face another nationally ranked team, Alaska Anchorage, on Thursday night (Oct. 6) at 7 p.m. AT (6 p.m. PT).