Nanooks volleyball swept at Central Washington
November 20, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Freshman outside hitter Megan Morrison had a solid night, tying for the match-high with 13 kills, but the Alaska Nanooks could not capitalize on their chances and was swept on the road 3-0 (25-13, 26-24, 25-17) by the Central Washington Wildcats on Thursday night.
Morrison added four block assists and junior outside hitter Keri Knight terminated on eight swings, leading the team with a .208 attack percentage in the loss.
"We really had our chances but it boiled down to ball control," said head coach Phil Shoemaker. "We weren't sharp with our ball control and that limited the quality of the swings we were taking. Central did a better job than we did and as a result got more good swings."
The teams went point-for-point early in the first set, before CWU's Lauren Herseth went back to serve seven straight points and open up a 10-3 lead. Four Alaska hitting errors occured in that stretch before first-year outside hitter Sam Harthun registered her first kill of the match to stop the run.
Attempting to catch up the rest of the way, the Nanooks had trouble holding serve and CWU setter Devin Larson gave the hosts a five-point run mid-set that made it 20-8. The 'Cats were sharp the rest of the game, registering five kills down the stretch to take the opener 25-13 and outhitting Alaska .324 to .000.
The Nanooks showed signs of improvement in the second set, jumping to an early 5-2 lead but it was shortlived as Hjellum served five points to pull even and take a 7-5 lead for the home team. Neither team would lead by more than three points the rest of the way as they battled through 11 ties the rest of the way. The Nanooks fought off two set points and a block by Knight made it 24 all but Wildcat Rachel Hanses registered two consecutive kills to secure the 26-24 victory and a 2-0 advantage at the mid-match break.
The third set continued to be tightly contested but the Nanooks could not overcome the Wildcats, who never trailed in the final set. Alaska kept it close until the midway point, but was never able to build any momentum and eventually fell 25-17, dropping their penultimate match of the season.
The host Wildcats got 13 kills and 16 digs from Hjellum, 10 kills from Hanses, 12 digs from Kaely Kight and 36 assists from Larson.
Alaska's rookie setter Katlyn Mataya dished out 25 assists and senior libero Allison Oddy had the second highest match total for digs with 14.
For the game the teams were even with six blocks a piece but the Wildcats outhit the Nanooks .227 to .093 for the contest to win the battle at the net. Alaska came up short in the backcourt too as CWU outdug them 52-45.
The Blue and Gold finish up their 2012 schedule on Saturday in Nampa, Idaho, where they will play the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders at 5 p.m. AKT.