ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The Nanooks volleyball team could not hold off the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday afternoon, falling in five sets. The Nanooks opened the contest by winning the first two sets 25-20 and 25-23 but dropped the following three 25-19, 25-19 and 15-13. The loss snaps Alaska's six-match winning streak, as the Blue and Gold fall to 18-7, 10-5 GNAC.

How it Happened
The Nanooks started fast to open the match, racing out to a 5-1 lead, with Rachel Pierce, Kristina Head and Rilee White all contributing with kills. CWU took the following three points and, after another Head kill, posted another 3-0 run to take a 7-6 lead. The two sides traded the lead twice, but neither team built an advantage greater than two until a 5-0 run by the Nanooks put them ahead 17-14. Karli Nielson started the run with two straight kills, and Tessa Onaga followed with back-to-back service aces. Alaska's lead did not dip below two points for the remainder of the set, with White closing it out with her third kill. Head and Nielson slammed four kills apiece to open the contest, while the Nanooks posted a .173 swinging percentage.

Alaska held the lead for the opening portion of the second set, in front 16-11 before the Wildcats took the lead with a 7-0 run. The Nanooks tied the set at 19 after a kill and block from White; however, they could not regain their advantage until a combination block from Head and Nielson put them in front 23-22. CWU tied things up at 23 after a Nanooks attacking error, but the Blue and Gold closed out the set with two straight points, capped off by a Nielson service ace to give Alaska the 2-0 advantage. The Nanooks posted their best hitting percentage of the afternoon, swinging .256 as a team. Nielson and Head again collected four kills to lead the squad in the second.

After opening the third set tied at two, Alaska scored seven straight to build a 9-2 advantage. Central Washington answered with three consecutive points, but Elena Guc countered with two kills in a row, putting the Nanooks ahead 11-5. Alaska maintained its lead, up 17-10 after kills by Pierce and Josie Jansen forced a CWU timeout. The Wildcats responded with a 12-0 run out of the break, and the Nanooks found themselves down 22-17. Alaska lost the set by six, hitting a match-low -0.024 as a team. In the following set, A CWU bad set gave the Nanooks a 3-2 lead early, but after two straight Wildcats points, they would not lead for the remainder of the fourth, once again falling 25-19 to force a fifth. Alaska was out-hit .081 to .344, and Head added three more kills during the set.

Alaska began the final set ahead 9-4, with Nielson contributing three kills to put the Nanooks up five. The Wildcats brought the lead down to 12-9, and after another Nielson kill, ended the set by scoring the final six points, pulling off the five-set win. Nielson had five of Alaska's seven kills in the fifth, but the team committed seven attacking errors for a .000 hitting percentage.

By the Numbers

• Both teams were evenly matched in the final statistics, with each side posting 55 kills, 15 blocks, 52 assists and 89 digs. Alaska logged nine service aces to CWU's seven, but the Wildcats out-hit the Nanooks .183 to .108.
• Nielson had a team-leading 16 kills and collected 12 kills.
• Head was the other Nanook to notch double-digit kills, finishing with 11. She was the only Alaska player to hit over .100, posting a .391 hitting percentage.
• Head also led Alaska with 10 block assists.
• Ainsley Smith had a team-leading 24 assists. She also collected 15 digs.
• Onaga had 27 digs in the contest and led the Nanooks with four service aces.

What's Next
The Nanooks head to in-state rivals Alaska Anchorage for their only match next week, with first serve set for 7:30 p.m. next Saturday.

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