Oct. 31, 2015 Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Redshirt freshman middle blocker Kayleigh Harper recorded 15 kills with a dominating .882 hitting percentage to lead the No. 16 Western Washington Vikings to a three-set sweep (25-18, 25-20, 25-15) of Montana State Billings Saturday evening at Whatcom Pavilion in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
The Vikings (18-4 overall, 12-2 GNAC) remain tied for first place in the GNAC as Western, Northwest Nazarene, Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington all won tonight to improve to 12-2 in league play. MSUB falls to 4-19 overall and 3-11 in GNAC play.
Harper (RS Fr., Oak Harbor, WA) set a school record and tallied the 4th-best hitting percentage in a match by a GNAC player (min. 12 kills). Her .882 percentage has bettered only by Morgan Zamora in 2006 (CWU, .929, 13 kills), Korlyn Bolster in 2007 (Alaska Fairbanks, .929, 13 kills) and Courtney Lundberg in 2009 (Alaska Anchorage, .895, 2009). The previous highest hitting with at least 12 kills by a WWU player was .786 by Kayla Erickson (12 kills, 14 attempts) on Sept. 7, 2012 vs. Cal State Stanislaus.
"Kayleigh had a really great match, keeping the ball in play and taking advantage of all the great serves our team had tonight," said head coach Diane Flick. "We kept them off balance all night with our serves and were able to force them out of their game."
In addition to Harper's big night, outside hitter Abby Phelps (RS Fr., Manson, WA/Chelan) tallied 11 kills and a team-high 15 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Opposite Joellee Buckner (So., Colville, WA) also had 11 kills on a .526 hitting percentage.
As a team the Vikings hit .376 (52 K, 8 E, 117 TA), the second-highest percentage of the season trailing only .438 Oct. 8 vs. Concordia (42 K, 3 E, 89 TA).
After a slow start, the Vikings took control of the first game en route to the 25-18 victory. Harper led WWU with 6 kills on a .750 hitting percentage and Phelps tallied 5 kills on 11 attacks (.455%).
The Vikings inched towards the sweep with 25-20 win in the second set. Harper had another dominating performance with 6 kills on 6 attacks (1.000%).
Western put the match away with a convincing 25-15 win in the third set. Phelps tallied 6 of her 11 kills in the match and added 6 digs in the set.
Up Next: The Vikings continue conference play next week with a pair of road matches at Western Oregon (Thursday, 11/5, 7 pm) and Concordia (Saturday, 11/7, 7 pm).
GNAC Standings: The GNAC standings remain tight with three more weeks of regular-season competition...Western, Northwest Nazarene, Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington are all tied for 1st place with identical 12-2 records.
#16 Western Washington def. MSU Billings 25-18,25-20,25-15Site: Bellingham, Wash. (Whatcom Pavilion)Date: Oct 31, 2015 Attend: 258 Time: 1:14
MSU Billings (4-19, 3-11 GNAC) Kills-aces-blocks - Ward,Ashlynn 11-0-0; McConnell,Miranda 7-0-0; Marrs,Audri 6-0-4; Siemion,Stormy 5-1-0; Williams,Kyndal 2-1-1; Mikelson,Abbie 1-0-2; Sherman,Taylor 0-1-0; Totals 32-3-4.0.Assists - Williams,Kyndal 27. Dig leaders - Siemion,Stormy 15; Sherman,Taylor 11; Roderick,Mataia 11; Kirk,Kimmy 8
Western Washington (18-4, 12-2 GNAC)Kills-aces-blocks - Harper,Kayleigh 15-0-2; Buckner,Joellee 11-1-0; Phelps,Abby 11-1-2; McPherson,Jennica 8-1-0; Roeder,Rachel 4-0-1; Hall,Michaela 3-0-1; Tribley,Kristina 0-2-0; Turner,Arielle 0-1-0; Totals 52-6-3.0.Assists - Boesel,Brette 27; Tribley,Kristina 15. Dig leaders - Phelps,Abby 15; McPherson,Jennica 13; Buckner,Joellee 8
