ELLENSBURG, Wash. – In what was originally scheduled to be a doubleheader on Saturday, the Western Oregon University volleyball team ended up playing one match against Alaska Anchorage with the Seawolves taking the 3-0 (25-13, 31-29, 25-16) win in a neutral site match that was played on the campus of Central Washington.
Lauren Smith and Isabel Hurliman paced the offense with Smith tallying nine kills to eight for Hurliman. Aubrey Stanton dished out eight assists, Laney O'Neil with seven and Allie Spear with five. Spear collected 14 digs and Makenzie York sent back three blocks. Delaney Smith and Hurliman added two blocks apiece.
Alaska Anchorage (5-1) came out scoring the first three points of the opening set. The Seawolves ended up scoring 11 of the first 13 points to take an 11-2 lead. A kill by Lauren Smith helped start a 3-0 run near the midway point of the set, as after an attacking error, York and Bella Maclellan combined for a block. Alaska Anchorage kept coming as they claimed the first set 25-13.
Trailing by four early, WOU (0-2) came back to even the set at seven with a kill by Hurliman. The Wolves took their first lead of the set at 9-8 on a kill by Carly Cox. Down set point at 24-20, WOU stormed back. Hurliman and York posted kills and around an attacking error, Lauren Smith had a pair of kills to move the Wolves to set point at 25-24. The teams kept trading advantages with WOU moving to a 28-27 lead on a kill by Lauren Smith and one last time at 29-28 on a kill by Hurliman. The Seawolves then finished the set with three straight points for the 31-29 second set win and 2-0 match lead.
Down four points again in the third set, WOU came back with the next three points with Lauren Smith tallying a kill and after an attack error, Hurliman spun in a service ace. Alaska Anchorage kept the pressure on with WOU tallying a late run with points from Emily Olson and Maclellan before the Seawolves took the set at 25-16.
The Wolves hit .234 in the wild back-and-forth second set tallying 16 kills. Overall for the match, WOU hit .095 with 26 kills to 17 errors in 95 chances. Alaska Anchorage hit .228 with 42 kills to 16 errors in 114 chances. WOU collected five service aces, five blocks, 24 assists and 40 digs. Alaska Anchorage had 10 service aces, two blocks, 36 assists and 45 digs.
Eve Stephens led Alaska Anchorage with 12 kills and Ellen Floyd had 24 assists.
WOU will travel back to Washington State this coming week as they will face Western Washington in Bellingham for three matches starting with a single match on Friday at 5 p.m.
