ELLENSBURG, Wash.—Facing a Central Washington University volleyball team that nearly broke into the NCAA DII top-25 poll last week, Western Oregon University fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-19) on Thursday inside the Nicholson Pavilion.

Western Oregon (6-12, 2-9 GNAC) generated a slim lead through much of the first set, but Central Washington (14-5, 9-2 GNAC) used an 11-4 run to clinch the opener and  went on to win the next two offerings in wire-to-wire fashion to post the team's fourth straight win.

Western Oregon will continue its road swing on Saturday by facing No. 12-ranked Northwest Nazarene University. Opening serve is set for 2 p.m. (MT) in Nampa, Idaho.

Jenna Compton contributed with three early kills to help the Wolves gain a 17-14 advantage in the first set. Committing just four attacking errors in the set, CWU tied the set at 19-19 on a Maggie McTaggart swing before pulling away.

The Wildcats held their visitors to a .077 hit rate in the second and never trailed after jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Wolves managed to stay within striking distance with an Alisha Bettinson kill to make it a 12-9 affair only to face another spree by the home team.

The Wildcats ran the same script in the finale, this time with a 7-1 spurt to start and WOU's Mariella Vandenkooy swinging to make it an 11-9 contest before succumbing to the GNAC's top-ranked defense.

Katherine Huntington joined Bettinson, Compton and Vandenkooy as the foursome finished with seven kills each for the team lead. Leila Holt had 27 assists while Libbie Hoene recorded 10 digs for the Wolves. Shelby Mauritson led CWU with 16 kills.