Nov. 6, 2004

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Middle blocker Kristy Carstensen (Sr., Puyallup) had a team-high 16 kills and added six blocks as Western Washington University defeated Western Oregon University, 30-20, 30-28, 30-32, 30-23, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match Friday at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

It was the third straight victory for the Vikings, who improved to 15-7 overall and 11-4 in the GNAC. They are 7-1 at home this season, and have won 25 of their last 26 matches at Carver Gym.

Western Oregon fell to 8-15 overall and 4-11 in conference play with its fourth straight loss. The Wolves, who defeated Western Washington at Monmouth, Ore., on Oct. 9, were led by the match-high 21 kills of outside hitter Mandy Veley.

The opening game was tied at 15-15, but the Vikings ran off six straight points, then closed out the game with five of the last six points, including two service aces by setter Kristin Urdahl (Jr., Spokane/Ferris), who had five aces in the match.

Western Washington rallied from a 23-21 deficit to win the second game, in which Carstensen, who played at Western Oregon as a freshman, had eight kills; then had a match point in the third, only to have the Wolves run off three consecutive points for a 32-30 victory. The Vikings re-asserted control in the final game, jumping to an 8-3 lead and pulling away from there.

Middle blocker Meghan Evoy (Sr., Olympia/Capital) had 14 kills and a match-high eight blocks for Western Washington, which had a total of 14 blocks as a team.

"We've been working on our blocking the last couple weeks," said Western coach Diane Flick. "It was good to see us get results out of it."

The Vikings also got season-high kill totals of 10 from Lindsey Signer (R-Fr., Stanwood) and five from Siri Wuotila (Seattle/Highline).

"We had some great play from Lindsey and Siri tonight," Flick said. "They aren't normally our go-to people, but they stepped up when we needed them and did a good job."

Nicole Kludt had 15 kills for Western Oregon, and libero Tiffany Mapston added a match-high 39 digs.

The Vikings host Humboldt State University on Saturday (7 p.m.) in a GNAC counter. That will be the final home match for three Western seniors - Carstensen, Evoy and Brianna Murray (Everett/Cascade).