ELLENSBURG, Wa  – Simon Fraser University lost in five tight sets to the Central Washington Wildcats in Ellensburg Saturday night, dropping the Clan to 2-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
After leading 2 sets to one, SFU lost the nest two sets and the match, 23-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-25, 12-15.
 
With the match tied 2-2, the fifth set was a fresh game for both teams. The game was a point for point battle, and the Clan was the first to reach the eight-point mark to switch sides with a stuff block by Madison Power and Christine Howlett. Despite the initial lead, Wildcat attackers Linden Firethorn and Erin Little came through with five kills together combined with the Clan's two attack errors and a service error to seal the set at 15-12, CWU victory.
 
 "We played hard tonight and we were just a couple plays from a different result," said head coach Gina Schmidt.
 
Junior libero Aly McKay led the team with 35 digs followed by freshman Jayme Bratsberg with 25. Senior setter Danielle Curtis led with 27 assists and Tessa May with 8 total blocks.
 
SFU wasted no time in opening up the match strong and not allowing CWU any big leads. With early kills by Howlett and outside hitter Jessica Young, the Clan held a tied set at 12-12 before pulling away and leading the Wildcats 16-12. Two more kills contributed by freshman outside hitter Lauren Fridman and one more each by Howlett and middle blockers Tessa May and Power, kept the team alive through a 23-22 lead. Three more kills by Central Washington attackers Kaitlin Quirk and Firethorne clinched the set for the Wildcats at 25-23.
 
The Clan came out fighting in the 2nd and 3rd sets. Winning scores of 27-25 and 25-19 were made possible with six kills made by Young followed by four from Emma Jennings along with the defensive force at the net put up by middle blockers May and Power, each with four blocks.
 
SFU struggled in set four with a slow start putting them behind 0-5. After Madison Power gave the Clan their first kill, they chipped away at the score to bring it to 8-10 before the Wildcats took off. With too many attack errors on the Clan side, and solid blocks put up by Central, the Wildcats dominated the set finishing 25-15 and took the tiebreaker 15-12.
 
The Clan takes on the Western Washington Vikings next Tuesday September 29th and plays their next home game Thursday, October 8th in West Gym against Western Oregon University beginning at 7:00 PM.
 
--@SFUClan--