FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team opened up Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at home on Thursday, falling in a hard-fought battle to the Central Washington Wildcats 3-1 at the Alaska Airlines Court. Alaska went 15-25, 26-14, 23-25 and 22-25 against Central Washington, dropping their overall record to 2-7 and 0-1 in conference play, while the Wildcats improve to 7-1 overall and 1-0 in league contests.

"I really liked the way we battled tonight and I'm pleased with how we took on a great team, the number one team in the conference right now," head coach Brian Scott said on Thursday. "They are the number one team for a reason and we gave them a fight tonight and that was fun to see. We were scoring the points we needed to score but we were just giving them too many points. We're going to bounce back from that, we will improve from tonight and we will make adjustments for next time."

After only posting a team sideout percentage of 36 and 12 kills, 12 errors for an even hitting percentage in the first set, Alaska rallied back in the second to register 15 kills and seven errors off of 45 total attempts for a .178 hitting percentage and went 19-for-24 for a sideout percentage of 79. The Nooks' best hitting set came in the fourth, as Alaska tallied 14 kills and five errors off of 47 total attempts for a percentage of .191.

Central Washington barely edged Alaska in almost every statistical category including kills (60-54), assists (60-53), digs (87-84), team blocks (10.0-7.0) and points (72.0-68.0) but Alaska boasted seven service aces to CWU's two.

Redshirt-sophomore outside hitter Tatum Upchurch collected her third double-double of the season on Thursday night, tallying a game-high 22 kills and 12 digs for the Nooks. Upchurch had 11 errors off of 60 total attempts for a game hitting percentage of .183 and also registered a single-game career-best 23.0 points.

Sophomore outside hitter Lahra Weber also posted her third double-double of the season against Central Washington with a season-best 22 digs and 16 kills. Weber only had six errors off of 45 attempts for a hitting percentage of .222 on the night. Additionally, Weber chipped in three aces, one assist and one block assist for 19.5 points.

Sophomore setter Cate Whiting collected a team-best 45 assists against the Wildcats, while also chipping in nine kills, four aces and one solo block.

Defensively, freshman libero Makena Overbey led the Nanooks with 26 aces, while junior right-side Mica Shenglan chipped in 14.

The Wildcats were led offensively by Makala Swart, who registered a team-best 20 kills while setter Gabrielle Aihara posted a game-high 54 assists. Central Washington's libero Kyla Morgan led all players on the court in digs with 37.

The Alaska Nanooks return to the Alaska Airlines Court on Saturday, Sept. 8, as they host the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks in GNAC action. The match is slated for 7pm AKT.

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