Box Score
ELLENSBURG, Wash., Oct. 8, 2011 – Despite winning the first set, Alaska fell 3-1 to Central Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match on Saturday evening at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats won the match by scores of 21-25, 25-13, 25-19 and 25-19. They improved 10-7 on the year and 4-5 in conference play, while the Nanooks fell to 2-15 overall and 2-7 in the GNAC.
“It was a little difficult playing without Allison [Oddy], but that wasn't the whole story,” Head Phil Shoemaker said. “We just didn't handle the opportunities as well as we could have.”
“We've got to get better at remembering in competition things that we work on in practice,” Shoemaker said. “The issue is we're not transferring from practice to competition as well as we really need to technically as well as tactically.”
CWU's offense was paced by
Jordan Offutt, who posted a match-high 17 kills and had a .375 (15-40) attack percentage.
Erin Smith added 13 kills and six blocks, while
Carlee Marble tallied a match-high 45 assists and
Kaely Kight had 15 digs, respectively.
“We did a lousy job on [Jordan Offutt],” Shoemaker said. “She unloaded on us. She's a talented player and she had a great match.”
Alaska was led by junior middle blocker
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif./Manhattan College), who tied her career-high with 14 kills to go with a match-high .393 (11-28) attack percentage. “Casey had a good match,” Shoemaker said. “She worked hard and I think she was our bright spot certainly offensively tonight. She did her part, that's for sure.”
Also for UA, Sophomore outside hitter
Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs and junior defensive specialist
Jordyn Montgomery (Topeka, Kan./Rockhurst University) totaled a match-high 18 digs. Freshman middle blocker
Morgan Tebbs (Queen Creek, Ariz./Queen Creek) also had a career-high five blocks in the loss.
For the match, Central Washington hit .239 as a team, to Alaska's .101 and held a 10-8 advantage in blocks. The two teams combined for 47 errors, but the Nanooks committed 19 errors in the middle sets to allow for CWU's comeback.
In the opening set, Alaska led 9-6, but CWU responded with a 5-0 run to take an 11-9 advantage. Trailing 15-14, the Nanooks scored the next four to lead 18-15, but the Wildcats took the following two points to close to within one. Teams traded 3-0 runs to keep it a one-point game, but two errors by the home team opened the door for Alaska as it tallied three more consecutive to sit on set point at 24-20. After a kill by the Wildcats, junior outside hitter
Reilly Stevens (Riverside, Calif./Fullerton JC) closed out the frame with a kill of her own to give the 'Nooks the one-set advantage.
The Nanooks held a brief lead at 3-1 in the second set, but the Wildcats took control by scoring 13 of the set's next 14 points to grab a 14-4 advantage. Alaska got to within seven at 18-11, but Central Washington closed the set on a 7-2 run to even the match at 1-1. The Nanooks made 11 errors in the frame to just seven kills.
CWU opened the third set with the first four points and led 6-3 before Alaska went on a 5-0 run to take an 8-6 advantage. The Wildcats came back with the next four to retake the lead at 10-8. With the set tied at 15-15, the Nanooks took an 18-15 lead after scoring three straight. Central Washington stormed back, as it took 10 of the next 11 points, five coming from errors by Alaska, to win the set 25-19.
In the fourth set, the Wildcats seized a comfortable lead as they opened with a 7-0 run, but Alaska didn't quit as it scored 13 of 19 to tie the set at 13-13. CWU answered by scoring five of the next six points to grab an 18-14 advantage. The Nanooks got to within two at 18-16, but the Wildcats never allowed their lead to shrink any more as they closed out the set with another 5-1 run.
Alaska returns to action next Saturday when it travels down to Anchorage, Alaska, to face its rival Alaska-Anchorage at the Wells Fargo Sports Center. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
“There's no question in my mind that we have the ability to play well against virtually anyone in our league, but the discipline, consistency and transfer from practice to competition has got to be there,” Shoemaker said. “We've taken our beatings the first half of the season and we've got to put that behind us and move forward.”
