Nov. 17, 2007
Box Score
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The Western Washington University volleyball team earned its first trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight with a 30-28, 30-24, 30-23 upset victory over host and No.1 seed Cal State San Bernardino in the championship game of the Pacific Regional on Saturday at Coussoulis Arena.
The Vikings, ranked No.24 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Top 25 and the No.2 seed, improved to 24-4 with their 19th straight victory, the third-longest streak in school history. They have lost just six games during that stretch.
"We played obviously the best match that we've played all year long," said Western coach Diane Flick (8th year, 173-46, .790). "And we continued it from the beginning of the match to the end of the match.
"We just decided that we were going to play loose, that we were going to enjoy every moment, which has been our theme all year."
CSUSB, rated No.3 nationally, ended its season at 27-3. It was the eighth straight season that the Coyotes had gotten to the final. They won regional championships in 2003 and 2004, but have not been victorious in three title tries on their home court.
The Elite Eight will be held on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at the site to be determined from one of the regional champions.
With the win, Western avenged a loss to CSUSB on Sept. 1 at the WWU Invitational when the Vikings were beaten in five games after winning the first two.
"When we were up by two games, it gave us perspective that we had to continue to push as we did in the first two games and not back off," Flick said. "And that was a huge thing for us in that third game. We started off hot again, and we just kept pushing to the end, and we weren't going to let up until someone told us to get out of there."
Four Western players earned all-tournament honors. They were middle blocker Angie Alvord (Jr., Laurel/Meridian), outside hitter Jaime Anderson (Sr., SeaTac/Mount Rainier), outside hitter Emily Castro (Sr., Bellingham/Meridian) and libero Courtney Schneider (Sr., Snohomish).
Castro led the Vikings in the title match with 14 kills and 13 digs. Alvord had 12 kills and a match-high four blocks. Schneider had 22 digs and Anderson added 15.
Schneider, the national leader in digs per game for the second straight year, moved into third place among NCAA II career leaders with 2,594.
CSUSB's Ashtin Hall had a match-high 17 kills and 15 digs and Jessica Granados added 13 kills and 21 digs. Meghan Haas had a match-high 30 digs for the Coyotes.
Western had a .194 hitting percentage to .119 for the Coyotes.
In game one the biggest lead by either team was three. Trailing 28-27, the Vikings scored three points for the win - setter Katie Robinson (Sr., Everson/Nooksack Valley) tying the score with a service ace and Castro and Tiana Roma (Jr., Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway) following with kills.
There were 11 ties in game two, the last at 17-17, before Western pulled away by scoring seven of the next 10 points for 25-20 lead.
The Vikings scored the first four points in game three and never trailed. Ahead by just one, 16-15, they went on an 11-1 run to make it 27-16 in closing out the match.
The Vikings, who won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship with a 17-1 record, swept Chico State in the first round of the regional Thursday and prevailed over defending champion UC San Diego in the semifinals after losing the first two games Friday.
"I can't imagine being down 2-0 to UC San Diego and picturing where we are now," Flick said. "This is an unbelievable ride." <>
