Oct. 15, 2009
Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Outside hitter Marlayna Geary (Fr., Tacoma/Bellarmine Prep) had a match-high 17 ills and middle blocker Emily Jepsen (So., Kennewick/Kamiakin) added 16 kills and a match-high seven blocks as Western Washington University defeated Western Oregon University, 25-17, 21-25, 25-16, 25-16, on Thursday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.
The Vikings improved to 13-7 overall and 6-3 in GNAC action with their second straight victory, the first time in four weeks they have posted back-to-back triumphs. WWU is alone in third place in the GNAC, just a match out of the conference lead.
Western Oregon, the defending league champion, fell to 7-13 overall and 4-5 in the GNAC. Outside hitter Danielle Reese led the Wolves with 12 kills.
The Vikings jumped out to big leads and were never threatened in winning the first and third sets, grabbing a 10-4 edge in the opening frame and an 11-2 margin in the third. In between, WOU used a run of six straight points to take a 20-16 lead in the second set, then held on to win the frame.
In the final set, the Wolves had a 9-7 advantage, but the Vikings used runs of five and four consecutive points to grab a 17-12 lead and never looked back. Geary closed out the match with three straight kills.
Outside hitter Megan Amundson (Jr., Stanwood) had 12 kills for Western Washington, which had an attack percentage of .264, its best mark of the last five matches.
The Vikings also had 11 blocks, matching their second-highest output of the season.
Western Oregon had a .084 kill percentage.
Western Washington is at Montana State Billings on Saturday (7 p.m.) for a GNAC counter.
