Sept. 8, 2005

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Right-side hitter Krystal Knight (Sr., Sumner) had a match-high 12 kills and middle blocker Tiana Roma (R-Fr., Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway) added 11 as the Western Washington University women's volleyball team swept University of Alaska Anchorage, 30-23, 30-22, 30-14, on Thursday in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both schools on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Western, making its first home appearance of the season, improved to 5-4 overall with the victory. UAA, which was led by the nine kills of outside hitter Jenny Carpenter, fell to 3-6.

"It was a good way to start our conference season," Western coach Diane Flick said. "We need to keep getting better with each match."

The Vikings established early leads in each of the first two games. Western jumped to an 8-2 advantage in the opening game. The Seawolves pulled to within three at 25-22, but the Vikings scored five of the next six points, closing out the frame on libero Courtney Schneider's (So., Snohomish) third service ace of the game.

In the second game, Western grabbed an 11-5 advantage, but UAA rallied again, tying the score at 15-15. The Vikings were still narrowly in front at 21-20, but ran off eight consecutive points on the serve of outside hitter Jamie Petersen (Sr., Kent/Kentwood) to take the game.

In the final game, UAA held an 8-7 lead before Western took over, going on a 19-4 run that included three kills by Roma and four aces by setter Katie Robinson (So., Everson/Nooksack Valley) to effectively put the match away at 26-12.

"The thing I liked best was that we had 14 service aces, and no service receiving errors," said Flick. "One of our big keys going into the match was to pass well and serve well."

Robinson had five aces for the match, and Schneider added four. Petersen had a match-high 17 digs and Schneider 13.

The Vikings host University of Alaska Fairbanks in a GNAC counter Saturday (2 p.m.) at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Knight, Western thrive in 'homecoming' win

Vikings sweep Anchorage in home opener

JOE SUNNEN, THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

It's hard to tell if Western Washington University right-side hitter Krystal Knight was happier to be playing on the Vikings' home court Thursday night, or just to not be on the road anymore.

Either way, Knight had a night to remember.

"It's so nice not to be in Florida," Knight said. "It's a lot nicer to be here. I'm happy to be home."

The senior had 12 kills and a block as the Vikings defeated the University of Alaska Anchorage 30-23, 30-20, 30-14 in their home and Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener on Thursday night at Haggen Court in Sam Carver Gymnasium.

"It all came together for us and that's so nice to see," Knight said. "We're known as a team that is consistent and keeps momentum, and that's something we did. Our goal was just to attack the whole time."

Western (5-4 overall) never trailed by more than one point in any game and strung several long scoring runs to close out the Seawolves.

Redshirt freshman Tiana Roma scored five of Western's final 10 points in the second game to spark a closing 11-1 run, and setter Katie Robinson delivered four straight service aces in the last game during a 19-4 run. Roma finished with 11 kills and four blocks. Robinson had five aces. The Vikings tallied 14 service aces as a team. Jenny Carpenter paced UAA with nine kills.

The Seawolves fell to 3-6 overall, 0-1 in the GNAC.

"Our serve-receive was not good," UAA coach Michelle Earl said. "We didn't do a lot of good things. It was a tough one."

The match was a welcome change for the Vikings, who have played two of the nation's top NCAA Division II teams in Barry and the University of Nebraska-Kearney over the last two weeks.

"We've had our ups and downs throughout the season, and keeping the momentum has been one of our weaknesses," WWU coach Diane Flick said. "Our downs were few and far between in this one, and that's going to be key for us. We just have to build some consistency."

The Vikings also got some help from their block at the net, something that has been a work in progress so far this year.

"We've never really stressed blocking in this program before," Flick said. "Now we have such big, physical athletes at the net in all our rotations we can accentuate that a little more. It's something we're working on."

The Vikings play host to the University of Alaska Fairbanks on 2 p.m. on Saturday.