PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior Alisha Bettinson notched her third straight match with 10 or more kills, but the Western Oregon volleyball fell in four sets to Metro Staste on Saturday evening at the Concordia Labor Day Tournament. Set scores were 22-25, 25-14, 9-25, 21-25.
 
The Wolves fall to 0-3 on the season, while the Roadrunners swept the weekend to improve to 4-0.
 
Senior Christie Colasurdo notched 13 digs and junior Sheila Limas De La Cruz added 12 digs. Sophomore Amanda Short had nine kills and a solo block, while sophomore setter Maddie Mehciz had 28 assists and seven kills.
 
The first set saw WOU get out to an early 8-3 lead in the opening set on kills by Short, Bettinson and Sydney Blankinship, but the Roadrunners came back to tie the first game on eight different occasions. At 22-all, a service error gave Metro State the lead and a subsequent ace gave them game point. A final WOU attack error closed the first game, 25-22.
 
The second set swayed toward the Wolves as they were able to string a couple of points together over the opening 12 rallies. A 5-0 run on three kills and a Limas De La Cruz ace made the score 17-9. Western Oregon hit a blistering .583 for the set with 15 kills and just one error.
 
For all of the highs of set two, the Wolves could not get on track in the third. Metro State had their best hitting set with 13 kills and a .414 percentage. The Roadrunners opened the game on a 5-0 run and never looked back to win the set, 25-9.
 
WOU got off to a fast start in set four opening a 7-3 lead with a Libbie Hoene ace and kills from Short and Bettinson. Fourteen of the next 18 points went to Metro State to seize the momentum. The Wolves put together a 3-0 run after trailing 23-17, but the Roadrunners close out the match with a 25-21 win.
 
The Wolves begin a four-match road trip on Thursday competing in the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase in Turlock, Calif. During the pod, WOU will face Concordia-Irvine and Hawaii Pacific from the Pacific West Conference while Chico State and host Stanislaus State await from the California Collegiate Athletic Association.