By: Jamal Smith Sports Editor
The women’s volleyball team edged out Saint Martin’s University (SMU) in a tense four sets on Saturday Oct. 24.
The scores for the four sets were 25-19, 25-23, 21-25 and 29-27.
After winning the first two sets, WOU looked to sweep SMU with a win of the third set.
With the score tied at 10-10, the Saints would go on a five point unanswered run and would pull away from the Wolves, eventually winning the set 25-23.
SMU continued to build momentum in the fourth set, going up on WOU 11-5. But the Wolves clawed their way back, eventually tying the score at 23-23.
Seeing the score tied at 25-25, the Wolves buckled down and took their first lead of the fourth set at 26-25 on a long back-and-forth volley. SMU wouldn’t go down without a fight though, and responded by leveling the score twice before the women would put SMU away with a kill from redshirt sophomore Sydney Blankinship.
“I was really happy at how hard we fought today, especially in that last set,” head coach Brad Saindon said.
Redshirt sophomore Alisha Bettinson (OH) led the Wolves with 14 kills and 6 blocks, and redshirt sophomore Sydney Blankinship (MB) and redshirt freshman Amanda Short (OH) each added 9 kills.
“We are improving each game and our confidence is coming around,” added Saindon. “I think we can be a really threatening team for the rest of the season, and the future looks bright for us as well.”
The conference victory improves Western Oregon’s overall record to 7-14, and 4-8 in GNAC conference play, and is the Wolves’ third consecutive victory.
The Wolves hit the road on Saturday, Oct. 31, to play Northwest Nazarene University before returning home to play Western Washington University on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m.
