Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Women’s Volleyball hosted the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks and Central Washington Wildcats on Nov. 14 and 16.

In the first match of the weekend, the Wolves were put to the test by the Nighthawks. During the first set, the Wolves stayed behind, but kept fighting back, only being a few points behind. 

The second set was not the same; the Wolves allowed for a quick lead by the Nighthawks until Wolves’ defensive specialist, Sarah Crowell, stepped up to dish out some well placed serves — catching the Nighthawks off guard — and racked up some points consecutively.

There were many well-executed plays made by the Wolves throughout the match including one by middle blocker, Makenzie York, who barely tipped the ball over the net to score for the Wolves.

This wasn’t enough — the end of that set had the Nighthawks up 25-19.

The Wolves started the final set, determining the tempo by scoring first, but this didn’t last long. The Nighthawks quickly returned, but the Wolves remained enthused.

NNU took the lead again with multiple unanswered points from the Wolves due to the strong defense the Nighthawks continued to put up. Western kept the pressure high, with many hard balls over, but none were powerful enough to beat the Nighthawk’s blocks.

The Wolves began to gain some momentum, but with not enough time left in the game to recover and catch up. The final set came to a close and the Nighthawks took home the win 3-0.

Western Oregon returned on Saturday with a hunger and desire to beat the Wildcats and bring home a win. 

The games started and the Wolves were blazing, winning the first two sets and dictated the energy and play of the game. During the third set, the Wildcats woke up and brought the energy higher, challenging the Wolves. The battle was back and forth with a lot of great plays by the Wildcats and not enough by the Wolves to match them. 

The game went into a fifth match, which hadn’t occured between these two teams since 2016.

Unfortunately, the fifth and final match was not in the paws of the Wolves, leaving the “dub” in the fangs of the Wildcats. 

The Wolves now have a 4-21 record with only one win at home. Women’s Volleyball have two more games, their last of the season, on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. — come and support your Wolves’ Volleyball for their final matches of the season.

Contact the author at hgreene18@wou.edu

Photos by Mikayla Bruley