ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Despite rallying back to force a fifth set, the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team fell to the Central Washington Wildcats 3-2 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest at the Nicholson Pavilion on Thursday night. Alaska went 25-21, 22-25, 15-25, 27-25 and 14-16 against the Wildcats to drop to an overall record of 8-6 (1-4 GNAC) while CWU improves to 9-4 on the season (4-1 GNAC).

"I thought we played really well tonight," head coach Brian Scott said on Thursday. "We stuck with our game plan where we wanted our middle blcokers to be more involved and they got some extra swings tonight. I thought we also did a really great job of getting Central Washington out of their system and really making their outside hitters move around."

Turning Points

• Set 1: Alaska trailed throughout the entire first set until a block from sophomore middle blocker Kim Wong and Gabby Lerma tied the set at 16-16. The Nooks used momentum in their favor going on a four-point run, followed by a three-point run to take the first set 25-21.
• Set 2: Conversely, Alaska held the lead throughout the majority of the second set before Central Washington was able to claw their way back with a four-point run to tie the game at 20-20. Errors on the serving line and at the net allowed the Wildcats to run away and take the second set 22-25.
• Set 3: After five tie scores before the 10-point mark, Central Washington was able to capitalize on four back-to-back attacking errors by the Nanooks to close out the third set 15-25.
• Set 4: With the Wildcats boasting an 11-3 lead over the Nanoosk in the fourth set, things weren't looking good for Alaska. The Nooks' offense beared down and posted 12 combined kills from freshman outside hitter Lahra Weber, redshirt-freshman outside hitter Markie Miller and Wong to tie the game at 17-all. A four-point run late by the Nanooks extended the set but Alaska captured forced a fifth set by winning 27-25.
• Set 5: With five tie scores throughout the fifth set, it was CWU who prevailed with a kill from Madison Weg and an attack error from Weber to  seal the victory.

 Inside the Box Score

• Miller tied the game-high and led the Nanooks in kills with 18
• Three other Nooks tallied double-digit kills: Weber (12), senior middle blocker Riley Podowicz (11) and Wong (10)
• Three Nooks posted double-doubles versus Central Washington: Weber (12 kills, 10 digs), senior setter Rachel Nichols (34 assists, 15 digs) and freshman setter Cate Whiting (22 assists, 11 digs)
• Weber's double-double marks her first of her career with the Nanooks
• Nichols' 34 assists was a game-high
• Sophomore libero Jenna Hickel tied the game-high and led her teammates with 26 digs on the night

Scott's Final Thoughts
"The mental side of the game is something we really improved upon tonight and that's what I'm most proud of. We were down through at certain points throughout the match and we just decided to start chipping away, one ball at a time. We did it in the fourth set and we were right there in the fifth set against one of the best teams in the country. If we can continue to play like we did tonight, we will definitely be a threat in the GNAC."

Next Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team travels to Nampa, Idaho to take on the #12 team in the country in the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders on Saturday, Sept. 30. Saturday's GNAC contest is scheduled for Noon AKT.

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