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Volleyball Randy Isbelle - Sports Information Director

Browning sets another WWU record

LEWISTON, Idaho — Sahara Browning set the new standard for total points in a career for Walla Walla Volleyball, but it was MSU-Northern who came out victorious in the Wolves' season debut at the P1FCU Activity Center on Friday.

The Skylights (1-1) earned the win with set scores of 25-17, 28-26, 22-25 and 25-21.

"Although this loss stings, it shows us exactly what we have to work on," Walla Walla coach Kiana Krumm said. "The girls are motivated to come back stronger than before, and we know exactly what we need to work on to turn it around. I know we can give so much more, and we can't wait to get back in the gym to work."

Sahara Browning led Walla Walla (0-1) with 20 kills and moved ahead of Natalie Wilkening on the all-time WWU total points leaderboard. Browning now has 760.5 total points in just over two years played, half a point better than Wilkening. The junior also led the team with 21 digs.

Freshman Vicky Giardina had a strong debut with 17 kills and 14 digs. Multnomah-transfer Myckayla Shaver and senior Natalia Jimenez had three blocks each. Sophomore Olivia Cheek led the Wolves with 26 assists and Deshy Sandoval added 22 assists.

Walla Walla outhit MSU-N with 61 kills to 53, but the 28 errors by the Wolves put their final hit percentage at .180. The Skylights had eight aces in the match and WWU was unable to record one.

Kadence Wiggins (13) and Lexi Jones (11) had the most kills for the Skylights. Macee Selman had 25 assists and Addison Falls Down had 21 digs for the victors.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After MSU-Northern tallied the first two points of the season, it was Shaver with the first kill of the season for the Wolves. Browning added to her record kill total and Jimenez earned a point for WWU as well, but the Skylights jumped out to a 9-3 advantage with four straight points.

Browning ended the streak with a strong attack. An attack error by Kadence Wiggins of MSU-Northern and the first kill by Giardina cut the deficit to three. Four points later it was the Skylights who won a long back-and-forth point to push the lead to 12-7 halfway through the first set.

The two teams traded points before Browning and Giardina combined for back-to-back points for the Wolves to make it a 17-13 score. The Skylights put on the pressure and won seven of the next nine points to set up a set point. Giardina and Browning earned kills on two straight points to extend the set, but Montana State-Northern was able to close it out for a 25-17 first set victory.

Giardina stuffed an attack attempt by Macy Uffelman to give Walla Walla its first lead of the match. Browning added a kill and a bad set by Addison Falls Down of MSU-N gave the Wolves an early 3-1 lead in the second set.

The Skylights took momentum with a 7-1 run. A service error by Montana State-Northern ended the run and the two teams traded the next nine points.  Jimenez took a Deshy Sandoval pass and drove it to the floor to cut the MSU-N lead to two. The Skylights extended their lead to 19-13 before the Wolves were able to go on a run.

Browning and Jimenez earned a kill each and WWU took advantage of an attack error to cut the lead to three. After a kill by Lexi Jones of MSU-N it was back-to-back kills by Browning to make it a two point set. Montana State-Northern won three of the next four points to take a 24-20 lead and earned four chances to close out the set. A kill by Lauren Moody, an error by Falls Down, a kill by Browning and two kills by Giardina flipped the script and gave Walla Walla a 25-24 advantage. The Skylights were able to bounce back and win three of the final four points to take the second set 28-26.

The Wolves took advantage of two attack errors to start the third set. Montana State-Northern again went on a run and took an early 6-3 lead. Three kills by Browning, a kill by Shaver and a pair of MSU-N errors helped WWU tie the set at 10-10. The Skylights won five consecutive points and looked to close out the match, but the Wolves did not go away quietly.

Walla Walla won seven of the next nine points to tie the set and Olivia Cheek put one away to give the Wolves a 19-18 lead. Giardina had a pair of kills off assists from Cheek. Cheek got a kill of her own and Browning added a kill to push the advantage to 23-20. Montana State-Northern cut the lead to one, but a service error and a bad set allowed WWU to take the third set 25-22 and extend the set.

The Wolves jumped out early in the fourth set with three straight kills by Browning, Quinci Flowers and Giardina to take a 6-4 edge. The two teams traded points in a highly contested set before Moody put one away for WWU to extend the lead to 14-11.

MSU-Northern won five consecutive points to retake the lead and never released it. Walla Walla got late kills by Giardina, Jimenez, Browning and Moody. The Wolves were unable to win back-to-back points after losing the lead and dropped the fourth set 25-21

UP NEXT

Walla Walla will start a stretch of five straight scrimmages. The Wolves will start with a meeting with Whitman College at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 18 in the Sherwood Athletic Center.

Stay up to date with all things Wolves Athletics at uwolves.com and on social media @theuwolves.

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