LACEY, Wash. - For the first time since 2001, Central Washington and Saint Martin's went the full five sets and for the first time since 2002, Saint Martin's walked away victorious as the Saints upset the Wildcats (23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 15-9) inside Marcus Pavilion.

The Saints (7-8, 2-5) rattled off seven of the first nine points in the match and opened on a 14-8 run before Central Washington (10-5, 5-2) called a timeout. After the timeout, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to claim their first lead of the set at 20-19. Emily Gooding responded with a kill after a CWU service ace to give the Saints a 21-20 edge before the Wildcats closed out the set on a 4-1 run.

SMU trailed in the second set 5-2 before a kill by Nicolette Nesbitt sparked a 8-1 Saints run that was highlighted by three Gooding kills and back-to-back Rachel Gondrezick kills. Each side traded points until the Saints led 14-10 when a service error by Central Washington and a kill from Gondrezick powered another Saints' run, this time a 5-1 run to give SMU a 19-11 lead. Later in the set, blocks from Kamille Langford, Rebecca Mitchell, and Megan Vernoy set up a Mitchell kill to give SMU the 25-19 set victory.

The Saints dug themselves into a hole early in the third set, trailing 7-2 on a SMU attack error. Central Washington capitalized on the Saints' poor hitting, a set where the Saints committed 13 attack errors, en route to a 25-19 victory.

With Saint Martin's down to their final chance, the Saints answered back in force, starting the set on a 11-1 run, capped off by three kills by Mitchell and a service ace. The Wildcats slowly chipped away at the Saints' lead until the scoreboard read 16-9 SMU. However, Gooding and Langford kills ended Central Washington's attempt at a comeback and the Saints cruised to the 25-19 set victory. 

In the fifth and deciding set, the Saints captured the first two points on a kill from Langford and an attack error by the Wildcats. Central Washington responded with a 4-1 short run to take a 4-3 lead before the Saints rattled off five straight points to lead the set 8-4 at the switching point. After Central cut the Saints' lead to 8-6, Gooding, Mitchell and Liz Larson responded with kills and Courtney Misner put the Saints up by six with a service ace. After back-and-forth side outs, the Saints ended the match on a kill from Vernoy, sealing their first victory over Central Washington since 2002.

Leading the Saints' offense was Mitchell once again with 19 kills while Gondrezick finished with 16 kills and Gooding with 11. Langford stepped up for the Saints' at the net with nine kills and eight blocks, including two solo blocks. Liz Larson and Megan Vernoy finished with a combined 14 kills. Nicolette Nesbitt and Jordan Keane tallied 34 adn 26 assists respectively, while Hannah Neumann lead the team with 25 digs.

The Saints do not get long to enjoy the victory as they host 15-0 No. 12 Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, October 7 at 2:00 p.m. Live stats and video the Saints and Crusaders' match will be available on smusaints.com.