Box Score Oct. 21, 2017 Box Score
BILLINGS, Mont. - The No. 8-ranked Western Washington University volleyball team recorded its 10th consecutive victory with a 3-0 road sweep over Montana State Billings Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action in Alterowitz Gym.
Game scores were 25-21, 25-12, 25-10 in favor of the Vikings, who improved to 17-3 overall and are in a first-place tie in the GNAC with Northwest Nazarene at 11-1 in league play. MSUB falls to 6-15 overall and 2-10 in GNAC play.
"We had a little bit of a rough start with too many errors," said 18th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "But I liked our response and how we got better with each set."
WWU junior outside hitter Abby Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) led the Vikings with 18 kills on a .421 hitting percentage. The two-time First Team All-GNAC selection narrowly missed the double-double with 9 digs, and finished with a team-high 19.0 points.
"Abby was again outstanding for us and did a great job of being smart with her attacks," added Flick-Williams. "She has made a few adjustments lately and has put together a string of really nice matches."
Junior opposite Joellee Buckner (Colville, WA) led all players with 19 digs, while her younger sister Aubrey had 14 digs in the libero position. Junior middle blocker Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) celebrated her birthday with 5 kills and 3 blocks.
Sophomore middle blocker Joslyn Bopray (Spokane, WA/Lewis & Clark) tallied 6 blocks (5 block assists, 1 block solo), as the Vikings held a 10.0 to 2.0 edge in blocks in the match.
Junior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) filled up the stat sheet with a match-high 38 assists, 3 service aces, 5 digs and 3 blocks.
WWU hit .308 for the match, while holding the Yellowjackets to a .065 attack percentage.
The Vikings and 'Jackets battled through 10 tie scores in the opening set, before WWU pulled away from a 17-17 tie going on a 6-1 run to build the 23-18 lead and eventual 25-21 set victory. Phelps tallied 8 of her match-high 18 kills in the opening stanza.
WWU and MSUB were tied at 8-8 in the second set, before the Vikings opened a big lead going on a 10-1 run, and went on to win 25-12 to go up 2-0 in the match. Phelps added 8 more kills to her total in the second set, while Bopray recorded 3 blocks.
Western wasted little time in putting the third set out of hand, opening the frame on a 12-0 run with Boesel on the service line. WWU would go on to put the match away with a 25-10 victory to extend the winning streak to 10 consecutive matches. Sophomore outside hitter Kazlyn Roullier (Spokane Valley, WA/Central Valley) had 4 kills and junior outside hitter Taylor Lyall (Bellingham, WA/Sehome) recorded 3 kills to lead the Vikings.
Maddi Vigil led MSUB with 8 kills and 15 digs, and Izela Alvarez recorded a team-high 17 digs.
The Vikings (17-3, 11-1 GNAC) continue on the road next week facing Western Oregon on Thursday (7 pm) and Concordia on Saturday (2 pm). 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).
