ELLENSBURG, WASH. -- Cal State LA's volleyball team prevailed in a nailbiter Thursday in the opening day of the Central Washington Invitational.

The defending national champions, ranked No. 11 in the nation, edged Simon Fraser of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in a five-set thriller in Nicholson Arena. Cal State LA (3-2) broke free of a 10-10 tie with a decisive four-point run in the fifth set to pull out a 20-25, 25-13, 26-24, 21-25, 15-11 victory. 

Emily Elliott had another explosive match, leading the way once again with 27 kills, four aces, four blocks and 33 points. She also had 11 digs for her first double-double of the season. Elliott had the final three points in the third-set victory with a block assist and two kills and she had three kills, an ace and a block assist in the fifth set.

Haley Roundtree had 12 kills and three blocks and Zuhal Cetin had a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs.

Brooke Dexter had 18 kills and Davida Hill had 15 kills for Simon Fraser (3-2).

Arielle Chandler had a career-high 47 set assists for the Golden Eagles, while Katerina Korre had eight kills, two aces and a team-high 14 digs.

Cal State LA had a 61-52 edge in kills and outhit Simon Fraser, .267 - .179. Simon Fraser had an 8-5 advantage in blocks. The Golden Eagles had 11 aces and 15 service errors, while Simon Fraser had nine aces and eight errors.

The Golden Eagles got off to a slow start and dropped the first set, before rebounding with a decisive edge in the second set. The Golden Eagles broke it open early, racing out to a 12-4 lead following an ace by Korre and two kills each by Roundtree and Cetin in a 5-0 run. Two kills by Elliott and a kill by Roundtree pushed the lead to 24-12 and a kill by Cetin ended the set.

Cal State LA then took a 2-1 lead after taking a 26-24 decision in the third set. The Golden Eagles trailed 22-17 before a kill by Roundtree, an ace by Brooke Paige, two attack errors and a kill by Cetin tied it at 22-22. Simon Fraser then got to set point at 24-22, but a kill by Elliott, a block by Havannah Vogel and Elliott and two kills by aces gave the Golden Eagles the set.

The Golden Eagles, though, were unable to close things out in the fourth set and Simon Fraser successfully forced the match to a deciding set.

Cal State LA took a 10-6 lead after an ace by Chandler and kills by Vogel and Elliott, but Simon Fraser responded with a 4-0 run to tie it at 10-10.

Elliott gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good with a kill and two attack errors followed by a block by Vogel and Elliott got them to match point at 14-10 and, after Simon Fraser fought off one match point, the contest ended with a service error.

Cal State LA will play its second match of the tournament on Friday at 2 p.m.