Nov. 13, 2004
Box Score
NAMPA, Id. - Middle blocker Meghan Evoy (Sr., Olympia/Capital) and outside hitter Brianna Murray (Sr., Everett/Cascade) each had a match-high 19 kills and attack percentages over .500 as Western Washington University ended its regular-season with a sweep of Northwest Nazarene University, 30-21, 30-17, 30-19, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball contest Saturday.
It was the sixth straight victory for the Vikings, who improved to 18-7 overall and placed second in the GNAC at 14-4. They were ranked No.9 in this week's Pacific Region poll. Eight teams from the region qualify for the NCAA Division II National Tournament field which is announced Sunday.
Northwest Nazarene finished 14-11 overall and 9-9 in league play with its 10th straight loss to Western.
"It was nice to end the conference season with a great team performance," said Western coach Diane Flick, whose Vikings have made trips to nationals in each of the last three years. "I'm excited about the fact that we've given the regional selection committee something to chew on."
"To me it's a question of does the regional committee feel like the second-place team in our conference (10 teams) is comparable to the fifth-place team of the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association), and also to be in there with the Pacific West Conference, which has two teams out of its six. We've given them a lot to think about because we've been playing very well, and I sincerely believe that we belong there."
Evoy, who upped her career school-record kill total to 1,379, hit .567; and Murray, who also had 14 digs, hit .548. Middle blocker Kristy Carstensen (Sr., Puyallup) had 14 kills and four blocks, tying for match-high honors in that category with Evoy. Outside hitter Jaime Anderson had 11 kills and a .409 attack percentage, and libero Courtney Schneider (Fr., Snohomish) added a match-high 24 digs.
Western hit .393 as a team to the Crusaders' .195, having a GNAC-record 71 kills for a 3-game match.
The Vikings used a 10-4 run to take a commanding 25-16 lead in game one, and opened games two and three with runs of 13-4 and 11-5, respectively.
