ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Host Central Washington University endured a feisty Montana State University Billings volleyball team on Thursday night at the Auxiliary Gym, holding on for a 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-18, 27-25) Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory.
 
Two of the four sets extended into extra points, including a dramatic fourth frame in which the Yellowjackets managed a set point opportunity that would have forced a decisive fifth. A service ace by Paiten Langston gave MSUB a 25-24 advantage in the fourth, but back-to-back attack errors followed by a kill from Tia Andaya helped the Wildcats close out the match.
 
"We had a great battle tonight," said MSUB head coach Casey Bonner. "I thought our team played hard and with a lot of energy. We didn't have enough to pull out the match, but I am proud of our fight."
 
Ashley Kaufman led all players with 24 kills while hitting at .380 in the match, while Andaya also reached double figures with 12 kills and had a .320 hitting percentage. Sydney Remsberg had 22 assists for the hosts, while Hannah Stires led the way with 25 digs. Central Washington improved to 8-4 overall and is now 3-1 in conference play with the win.
 
Freshman Lily Gentz was the top offensive performer for the 'Jackets, racking up 11 kills against just one error while hitting at .476 in the match. Caty Havekost had a team-high 12 kills, while Jahsita Fa'ali'i added nine and Langston finished with seven. Hannah Hashbarger totaled 27 assists, and libero Christine Funk led the team with 18 digs. MSUB fell to 6-6 overall, and slipped to 0-5 in conference play with its fifth straight defeat. "Lily was unstoppable tonight," said Bonner. "She had a ton of range over the tape and made CWU scramble."
 
Momentum swayed back-and-forth in the opening set, with the Wildcats nudging ahead midway through with a 15-11 lead. A stretch of five points out of seven by the 'Jackets pulled them within one, down 18-17, but the Wildcats responded by taking the next three points to reestablish command. The Yellowjackets stayed within striking distance, trailing 22-20 and 24-22, but a kill from Kaufman ended the opening frame.
 
MSUB pulled the match even with a well-contested second set, with a hot 5-1 start helping build momentum early on. The Wildcats went on a 4-0 run to pull the set even at 7-7, but ensuing kills from Langston, Emma Burlingame, and Havekost highlighted a 6-1 MSUB run that pushed it ahead 14-8.
 
Central Washington slowly chipped away into the late part of the set, coming all the way back to even the score at 21-21 on a kill by Emma Daoud-Hebert. After MSUB's first set point at 24-23 was thwarted by a Kaufman kill, Gentz and Fa'ali'i took care of business with back-to-back kills to even the match at 1-1.
 
A 7-0 run by the Wildcats early in the third set proved too significant to overcome, as the Yellowjackets couldn't manage to get back into the 25-18 defeat. CWU solidified the set with a late 4-1 push to make the score 21-13, and Marianna Payne had the set-winning kill to give the Wildcats the 2-1 advantage.
 
Neither team led by more than two points at any time during the tightly contested fourth set, as the Yellowjackets continued to battle and came inches away from forcing the fifth set.
 
The Wildcats held a narrow 9-8 edge in blocking, with Alyssa Smith, Daoud-Hebert, and Abby Snethen each contributing three block assists. On the MSUB side of the net, Langston led the way with four block assists while Burlingame and Hannah Hayden had three apiece.
 
THE BUZZ: Gentz was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…it was her fourth time reaching double figures in kills this season…MSUB is now 5-27 all-time against Central Washington and is 2-14 in road matches.
 
NEXT UP: The Yellowjackets square off against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. first serve in Nampa, Idaho. Live coverage for the match will be available online here.