FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Despite a great showing in the second set, the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team couldn't hold off the Central Washington Wildcats on Thursday night, falling 1-3 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at the Alaska Airlines Court. Alaska went 18-25, 28-26, 14=25 and 18-25 against Central Washington to drop their overall record to 2-22 and 1-16 in conference play, while the Wildcats improve to 15-10 overall, 11-6 GNAC.

"Man, we played really great at moments tonight and maybe not-so-great at other times of the game," head coach Brian Scott said following Thursday's loss. "It's kind of been the theme this year, we have these really shining moments and then it just turns around, we need to develop a little more consistency. In the second set, we hit lights out. But then coming into the third set, we have trouble seeing the court. It shouldn't be good enough for us to just say, 'Hey, we took one from Central Washington,' if we can play like we know how to play, that's a team we can compete against."

In a tight conference match, the Nooks out-served the Wildcats, recording six service aces to CWU's three. Alaska hung in with Central Washington, being barely edged out in five of the six major statistical team categories including points (69.0-61.0), kills (53-49), blocks (13-6), assists (53-49) and digs (54-45).

As a team, Alaska produced 49 kills and 30 errors off of 139 total attacks to combine for a team hitting percentage of .137. Central Washington, on the other hand, collected 53 kills and 16 errors from 123 total attacks for a team hitting percentage of .301.

Sophomore outside hitter Amberly Jeane tallied a game-high 17 kills, while also recording a team-high hitting percentage of .282. Jeane went on to chip in six digs and one assist to lead the Nanooks with 17 points on the night.

Junior outside hitter Angela Molesworth fell right behind Jeane, collecting 10 kills and three assisted blocks for 11.5 points. Junior middle blocker Riley Podowicz had eight kills, four block assists and one dig for 10.0 points against the Wildcats.

Junior setter Rachel Nichols collected a game-high 43 assists on the night for her seventh 40-or-more assist performance of the year. Nichols also registered three kills for a hitting percentage of .500, seven digs, one ace and one assisted block for 4.5 points on the night.

Freshman outside hitter Tatum Upchurch collected her best defensive night of her career so far, as the Anchorage native recorded a career-high 14 digs against the Wildcats. Upchurch also recorded six kills, to block assists and one ace for 8.0 points. Redshirt-senior libero Meagan Olsen also chipped in 11 digs one service ace and one assist on Thursday night.

Central Washington's Shelby Mauritson paced Central Washington's offense, collecting 14 kills, two service aces and 11 digs for a team-high of 16.5 points. Setters Nikole Cook and Gaby Aihara split time dishing assists for the Wildcats, as both collected 20-or-more against the Nooks. Libero Kyla Morgan recorded a game-high 18 digs.

The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 12 in their final home game of the season against the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders at 7pm AKST on the Alaska Airlines Court. The Nanooks encourage fans to get there early to celebrate Senior Night.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.