Sept. 4, 2010
Box Score
MONMOUTH, Ore. - Marlayna Geary (So., Tacoma/Bellarmine Prep), Kathryn Mertens (Sr., Olympia) and Emily Jepsen (Jr., Kennewick/Kamiakin) totaled 57 kills as Western Washington University toppled nationally ranked UC San Diego, 19-25, 29-27, 25-22, 26-24, to begin final-day action Saturday at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Challenge at the New P.E. Building on the campus of host Western Oregon,
The Vikings improved to 3-0 and UC San Diego, rated No.8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Top 25 Poll, fell to 2-1. Western closes out tourney action at 5 p.m. against No.2 Cal State San Bernardino, the West Region champion and a national semifinalist in 2009, at Central High School in Independence, Ore.
Against UC San Diego, Geary had a match-high 21 kills, Mertens 20 and Jepsen 16. Mertens and Jepsen each posted a .364 attack percentage, and Jepsen added a match-best 11 blocks.
"When you play a good team like UC San Diego, you have to have some offensive balance and we had that," said Western coach Diane Flick.
"We really took control in the latter half of the sets. When it came down to the end, we just had this attitude that we were just going to attack and I felt that was what put us over the top."
Western setter Kari Rice (Sr., Toppenish/Eisenhower) had 60 assists, 13 digs and eight blocks. Libero Allison Gotz (Sr., Bothell/Archbishop Murphy) contributed a match-high 27 digs and Jordyn Bailey (Sr., Wenatchee) had 18 digs.
After opening the match with its first set loss of the season, the Vikings bounced back from a 22-17 deficit in the second set with a 6-0 run, four on kills by Jepsen, to take a 23-22 lead. UC San Diego twice had a set-point serve before Western scored three straight points, the last two on Mertens' kills, to tie the match at 1-1.
There were 12 ties in the third set, and Western trailed 22-21 before scoring four consecutive points, the set winner coming on a kill by Geary.
The Vikings led 17-11 in fourth set, but UC San Diego came back for 24-all tie before Geary closed out the match with two kills.
Hillary Williamson led UC San Diego with 17 kills and 24 digs, and Roxanne Brunsting added 17 kills and 19 digs.
On Friday, Western opened its season with sweeps of No.10 Metro State and Humboldt State.
