Box Score Nov. 4, 2017 Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University junior outside hitter Abby Phelps recorded her 18th double-double of the season to lead the No. 8 Vikings to their 14th consecutive victory with a three-game sweep over Alaska Fairbanks Saturday evening in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court at Carver Gym.
With the 25-12, 25-18, 25-15 victory, WWU improved to 21-3 overall and remains in first place in the GNAC with a 15-1 league mark. During the 14-match winning streak, the Vikings have dropped only three sets. Fairbanks falls to 10-15 overall and 3-13 in GNAC play.
"I thought we did a really nice job of staying focused and rising to the occasion after a quick turnaround from Thursday's match," said head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "We have been practicing on staying in the moment and concentrating on the task at hand, and tonight I thought we did a great job of that and had good energy."
Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) had 12 kills and 12 digs to record her league-leading 18th double-double of the season. She also had one service ace to lead the Vikings with 13.0 total points.
Senior outside hitter Arielle Turner (Leavenworth, WA/Cascade) matcher her season and career single-match high with 6 service aces, and also had 5 kills and 3 blocks for 12.5 points.
Senior opposite Joellee Buckner (Colville, WA) just missed the double-double with 11 kills (.524) and 9 digs, and her younger sister Aubrey, recorded a match-high 18 digs.
Sophomore middle blocker Joslyn Bopray (Spokane, WA/Lewis & Clark) added to her GNAC blocks per set lead with 4 blocks, and junior middle blocker Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) contributed 8 kills on a .583 hitting percentage.
"Our middle blockers did a great job tonight really setting the tone early," added Flick-Williams. "Joslyn with the block and Michaela with the slide...they were a force at the net tonight."
Overall WWU hit .320 for the match (40 kills, 7 errors, 103 attacks), while holding the Nanooks to a .120 percentage. The Vikings out-blocked UAF 6.0 to 2.0 and held a 55-50 advantage in digs.
Alaska was led by 7 kills from Kim Wong (.312) and had three players register double-digits in digs.
The Vikings opened the match with a 25-12 first set victory, recording a team hitting percentage of .370. Phelps led the charge with 6 kills on a .600 hitting percentage (0 errors, 10 attacks), with junior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) and Bopray recording a pair of blocks each.
WWU went up 2-0 with a 25-18 win in the second set. The Vikings pulled away from a 9-8 lead, going on a 6-1 run to go up 15-9. After the Nanooks pulled to within four points at 22-18, the Vikings closed out the set on a 3-0 run. Buckner led the Vikings with 5 kills in the set (.714), with Phelps and Hall each tallying 4 kills apiece.
Western jumped out to a 12-3 lead to open the third set, and grew the lead to as many as 12 points at 18-6, while closing out the victory with a 25-15 win. Buckner and Turner led WWU with 4 kills apiece, with Turner notching 4 of her 6 service aces.
The Vikings close out the road portion of the regular-season schedule next week traveling to face Seattle Pacific on Thursday (7 pm) and Saint Martin's in Lacey on Saturday (8 pm). WWU will finish the regular season in Bellingham with a pair of big matches against Northwest Nazarene on Nov. 16 (Thursday) and host Central Washington for Senior Night on Nov. 18 (Saturday).
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).
Game Notes: Abby Phelps recorded her 48th career double-double, with her 18th this season to lead the GNAC...Arielle Turner moved into a tie for 16th place in the WWU career record book with 108 service aces...Turner's 6 aces match her single-match career-high set earlier this season at Simon Fraser and is tied for 7th-most by a Viking in a 3-set match (since 1998)...WWU has won 19 straight matches vs. Alaska Fairbanks and lead the all-time series 43-7...improved to 22-0 all-time vs. the Nanooks in matches played in Bellingham.
