Box Score Oct. 14, 2017 Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University junior outside hitter Abby Phelps recorded a match-high 14 kills on a .433 hitting percentage and sophomore middle blocker Joslyn Bopray tabbed 10.0 blocks to lead the No. 11 Vikings to a three-game sweep over visiting Seattle Pacific Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court at Carver Gym.
Game scores were 25-17, 25-19, 25-20 in favor of the Vikings, who wore white jerseys with pink numbers in honor of the annual Dig for a Cure match to support Breast Cancer Awareness month.
"I am really proud of our team tonight, not only for the great performance on the court, but also for playing for a bigger cause tonight and taking that to heart," said 18th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "I thought we came out really strong in the first set, and after battling a little adversity in the second set, finished really strong. All-in-all a great night to be a Viking and a great night to support Breast Cancer awareness."
The Vikings extended their winning streak to eight consecutive matches to improve to 15-3 overall and ended the first half of GNAC play in a tie for 1st place with Northwest Nazarene at 9-1 in league play. Seattle Pacific drops to 10-8 overall and 5-5 in league play with its seventh consecutive loss to Western.
Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) fell one dig away from the double-double, but otherwise was spectacular recording 14 kills with only one error on 30 attacks. She added 4 blocks for a match-high 16.0 points.
Bopray (Spokane, WA/Lewis & Clark) recorded her third double-digit block match of the season, upping her team-leading season average to 1.38 blocks per set. The 10 blocks are the most by a WWU player in a three-set match during the rally-scoring era (since 2001), and tied for 2nd-most by a GNAC player (record is 11).
Senior opposite Joellee Buckner (Colville, WA) added 8 kills and a match-high 17 digs, while her younger sister Aubrey recorded 16 digs in the libero position.
"The Buckners were really key tonight, especially with their defense when we were down in the second set," said Flick-Williams. "They provided a spark in a number of ways tonight."
Junior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) distributed the ball with a match-high 33 assists, and also recorded a career-high-tying 4 service aces.
Overall the Vikings out-hit the Falcons .231 to .107, and held a decisive 13.0 to 4.0 edge in blocks. WWU is now averaging 2.64 blocks per set to rank among the top 10 in NCAA Division II, and has a 3.00 average in conference matches.
WWU limited Falcons standout outside hitter Gabby Oddo to just 9 kills on a .067 hitting percentage. Oddo entered the match ranked in the top 10 in the GNAC with 3.41 kills per set, and was coming off a 20-kill performance in Thursday's 3-1 win at Simon Fraser. Hannah Lautenbach finished with 8 kills, 9 digs and 2 block assists for a team-high 10.0 points.
The Vikings came out swinging opening the match on an 8-4 run, and pulled away from a 12-9 lead going on a 10-4 run en route to the 25-17 first set victory to go up 1-0. WWU was led by 5 kills from Phelps (.500 attack pct.) and 4 blocks by Bopray. WWU out-hit the Falcons .229 to .081 in the opening frame, and held a 4.0 to 2.0 advantage in blocks.
WWU and SPU fought through 10 tie scores up early in the second set until the Falcons pulled away from an 11-11 score going on a 7-2 run. Trailing 17-13, the Vikings used scrappy defense to pull even at 18-18 behind a 5-1 run. Using the momentum shift to their advantage, the Vikings went on an extended 12-2 run, fighting through several long rallies and a pair of SPU timeouts, to win 25-19 and up 2-0. Phelps again led the charge for the Vikings with 6 kills (.462), with Bopray again tabbing 4 blocks.
Western jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the third set, and expanded the lead to 14-7 to force a second SPU timeout. The Falcons wouldn't go down easy, mounting an 11-6 run of their own to pull to within two points at 20-18. But WWU scored five of the next seven points to finish off the match with a 25-20 third-set victory. Phelps had 3 of her 14 kills in the final set, while Joellee Buckner and junior middle blocker Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) each had a pair of kills.
The Vikings (15-3, 9-1 GNAC) open the second half of the GNAC schedule with four consecutive road matches, beginning with a quick turnaround crossing the border Tuesday to face Simon Fraser in Burnaby. WWU's next home match at Carver Gym will be Nov. 2 against rival Alaska Anchorage.
All GNAC matches are streamed live on WWUVikings.com/Live and available via the GNAC channel on several streaming devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, AndroidTV).
