Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Playing without one of its top players, the Western Washington University volleyball team regrouped and recorded a 3-1 victory over Northwest Nazarene Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at Whatcom Pavilion. Game sores were 25-12, 27-29, 25-23, 25-22.

The 20th-ranked Vikings (10-6, 6-2 GNAC) won their fifth consecutive match while playing without sophomore outside hitter Abby Phelps, the GNAC co-leader with 11 double-doubles on the season. Phelps was held out with an undisclosed injury. Northwest Nazarene drops to 11-4 overall and 4-4 in league play.

"I am really proud of this team and the way they came together tonight and were selfless in their play," said head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "I find it ironic that on a night were we played for a greater cause with our annual Dig Pink match, that the team played in support and honor of one of their teammates that couldn't play tonight."

Western had four players reach double-figures in kills while helping replace Phelps' team-leading 3.30 kills per game average. Junior Arielle Turner (Leavenworth, WA/Cascade) led WWU with 15 kills on a .306 hitting percentage, and added one service and 4 block assists for 18.0 total points. Seven of Turner's 15 kills came in the clinching fourth set.

Sophomore middle blocker Kayleigh Harper (Oak Harbor, WA) recorded 14 kills (.364 pct.) and 5 blocks, while Michaela Hall (10 kills, .350, 5 blocks) and Kazlyn Roullier (10 kills) also reached double-figures in kills. Junior Joellee Buckner (Colville, WA) narrowly missed the double-double with 9 kills and 16 digs, and added 4 blocks.

Redshirt freshman Mae Thungc (Kent, WA/Kentridge) led Western with 17 digs and sophomore setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) contributed a career-high 51 assists.

Western took the early 1-0 lead with a dominating 25-12 first set victory. The Vikings used a 5-0 run to pull away from a 5-5 tie, and extended the run to 12-3 to put the set out of reach. Harper led all players with 5 kills hitting at a .833 clip (5-0-6). WWU out-hit the Crusaders .458 to .000 in the opening frame.

NNU pulled out a thrilling 29-27 second set win, with the Vikings battling back to stave off four set points. Trailing by 4 at 19-15, Western went on a 10-6 run to tie the match at 25-25. Subsequent ties prevailed at 26-26 and 27-27, but the Crusaders pulled away on a pair of WWU errors to win 29-27. Harper added 5 kills to reach double-figures for the match.

The Vikings tell in an early hole in the third set trailing 16-9, but stormed back with a 9-1 run (and 6-0 run) to pull ahead 18-17. It was back-and-forth until NNU led 22-20, but Western came right back and finished off the set on a 5-1 run to take the 2-1 lead in the match.

Western clinched the match with a 25-22 victory in the fourth set, with Turner leading the way recording 7 of her team-leading 15 kills.

Finding out that Phelps would not be able to play just a few hours prior to the game, Flick-Williams and her coaching staff went to work and abandoned their traditional 6-2 offense and pieced together a game plan that resulted in the victory.

"We had several players step up and that says a lot about this team," said Flick-Williams. "Bryce (Larson) and Aubrey (Buckner) had not played much and they went right in there and were really solid. I thought Joellee (Buckner) really took some great swings late in the match and made a big difference when we needed it."

Northwest Nazarene was led by a double-double from Kendra Bodine (16 kills, 14 digs) and 15 kills and 5 blocks from Madi Farrell.

The Vikings (9-6 overall, 5-2 GNAC) return to GNAC play next week to begin a stretch of four consecutive road matches. WWU travels to Saint Martin's on Thursday (7 pm) and Seattle Pacific on Saturday (7 pm).