PORTLAND, Ore.—Nearly rebounding from a sweep at the hands of No. 9-ranked Northern State (S.D.), the Western Oregon volleyball team fell 3-2 in the late game against Colorado Christian to go 0-2 on the opening day of the season while playing at the Concordia Tournament on Thursday.

"Always tough to open up a season against a top-10 team, but overall, we were pleased with our defensive intensity and effort," WOU head coach Tommy Gott said. "We are building the identity of the team as being a defensive and ball-controlling side and to see some of those big things show today was good to see."

WOU will close out the tourney with a single match on Friday. The Wolves will face Tiffin (Ohio) in the early match of the day with first serve set for 9 a.m. in Portland.

"We earned points with a tough and aggressive serve and our block was solid in both matches today," Gott said. "Now it's a matter of getting the offense going, but the exciting part of this quick turn around is that we know the little things to correct. Those tasks are fresh in our mind and we don't have to wait a week to do it." 

Match 2: Colorado Christian def. Western Oregon, 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-15, 15-6)

Falling behind 2-0, Colorado Christian survived a close third set and carried the momentum through to finish with a 3-2 comeback win over Western Oregon.

WOU scored the final three points in the opener to snare the 1-0 lead. A Descinda Slaughter followed by a combo block by Sophie Hall and Jenna Compton helped push the Wolves to within a set of the match win.

Two points away from being swept with the score 23-20 in the third, CCU scored five straight to stay alive in the match.

Trailing 8-7 midway through the fourth, the Cougars used a 9-2 streak to cruise to a 25-15 win to force the decisive fifth set.
Hitting .562 in the clinching set, the Cougars did not commit an attacking error in the finale for a commanding 15-6 win.

Slaughter went on to lead the Wolves with 12 kills on 33 attempts for a .212 rate. Leila Holt and Maddie Mehciz each recorded 17 assists while Mariella Vandenkooy led the club with 13 digs.

Five Cougars reached double figures in kills with Jacey Johnson, Ashley Drye and Hope Baldrica all tying for the match high with 16 terminations.  

Match 1: Northern State def. Western Oregon, 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-17)

Limiting WOU to a .033 hitting percentage, No. 9-ranked Northern State opened its season with a 3-0 win in the opening match of the Concordia Tournament on Thursday.

Up 12-11 in the first set, Northern State used an 8-1 run to claim the opener. The NSU offense took control in the second set with a .400 attack percentage while the defense closed out the match by limiting WOU to a -.100 hit rate in the third.

Hailey Busch led all players with 14 kills. Sophie Hall paced Western Oregon with six kills while Mariella Vandenkooy and Descinda Slaughter added five and four kills, respectively.

WOU outblocked NSU, 8 to 5, with Hall contributing with five block assists.

Northern State went 23-7 overall last season and tied for third in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.