MONMOUTH, Ore. --- The Western Oregon volleyball team hits the road to take on Saint Martin's 5 p.m. Saturday in Lacey, Washington.

WOLVES HEADING INTO THE WEEK | 2022 STATISTICS
WOU dropped its first two home matches of the season against tough foes in Central Washington (3-0) on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene (3-1) Saturday at the New PE Building.

Madison Hornback (2.62) and Bailee Hartsook (2.60) continue to lead the team in kills per set while Sarah Crowell (2.04) and Ella Nordquist (2.0) are also averaging more than two kills per set. Laney O'Neil leads the team at 5.27 assists per set while Sophia Casarez sits at 4.57 per set. Hornback has a team-high 18 aces. Defensively, Ally Henry leads the team at 3.61 digs per set with Hornback at 2.42 while Delaney Smith averages a team-best 0.79 blocks per set with Chloe Asciutto not far behind at 0.68 per set.

SAINT MARTIN'S HEADING INTO THE WEEK | 2022 STATISTICS
The Saints opened the season 9-0, but have dropped all four GNAC contests - including losing last week to NNU 3-2 and to Central Washington 3-1 at home.

Tia Allen has paced SMU on the attack at 3.56 attacks per set while Loredana Fouonji (1.97), Emmy Hansen (1.94) and Jennifer Soha (1.91) are each averaging just under two kills per set. Karla Soto leads the team at 9.35 assists per set and also has a team-high 20 aces. Abigail Halstead leads the team at 3.4 digs per set while Fouonji has a team-best 0.75 blocks per set. 

RECENT HISTORY VERSUS SAINT MARTIN'S
The Wolves lost both matches against the Saints last season - swept in three sets in Lacey while losing in five in Monmouth. Prior to last season, WOU had won eight of the previous nine matchups.
  MAKING STRIDES IN YEAR ONE UNDER NAHALE-A
The Western Oregon volleyball team just 12 games into the season has already made strides from a year ago in head coach Kaiao Nahale-a's first season at the helm. At 5-7, the Wolves have surpassed last season's win total already (4-21), equaled the 2019 win total (5-22), can equal the 2018 win total (6-21) on Saturday (2017's record was 7-20 with that in reach). The Wolves are halfway to their first double-figure win season since 2016 (10-17).

BIG WOLVES WIN TO OPEN GNAC PLAY - FIRST VICTORY IN FAIRBANKS SINCE 2016
WOU opened GNAC play on Sept. 8 with a five-set win over Alaska Fairbanks, breaking the Nanooks' seven-match win streak, snapping an eight-match losing streak to them and winning in Fairbanks for the first time since 2016. Sarah Crowell paced the Wolves with a season-high 16 kills while Madison Hornback added 15 and Bailee Hartsook had 10.

HORNBACK, CASAREZ MAKE SMU ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
The Western Oregon volleyball team had a pair of representatives on the SMU All-Tournament Team from the event that took place from Sept. 1-3 in Lacey, Washington, in Madison Hornback and Sophia Casarez. Hornback had a big weekend in totaling 52 kills, 47 digs and nine aces in the Wolves' four matches while Casarez had 96 assists for the Wolves.