BILLINGS, Mont. – The No. 2 nationally-ranked Western Washington University volleyball team cruised to its 21^st consecutive victory and clinched at least a share of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title with a 3-0 sweep at Montana State Billings Thursday night in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
Elevating to No. 2 in the national poll and No. 1 in the West Region rankings earlier this week, the Vikings improved to 21-3 overall and remain perfect in GNAC play at 16-0 with the 25-12, 25-12, 25-22 victory over the Yellowjackets. WWU will clinch at least a share of its ninth GNAC title, needing one more victory over the final four matches to clinch the outright title.
 
The sweep ended a tough, with the Vikings playing four matches in eight days in three different time zones.
 
"I am super proud of this team, for playing this stretch of matches so tough, and for preparing each match to be at their best," said 19^th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "It isn't easy to go from Alaska to Bellingham, then on Montana, but they were mentally focused and I could not be prouder of how they handled the adversity."
 
MSUB dropped to 11-14 overall and 5-10 in GNAC play.  
 
Senior middle Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) led all players with 14 kills on a .522 hitting percentage, and recorded 4 block assists to pass the 400-block mark for her career.
 
Junior Kayleigh Harper (Oak Harbor, WA) combined with Hall in the middle to add 12 kills on a .579 hitting percentage, also recording 4 blocks to reach the 400-block mark for her career.
 
Hall and Harper combined for 26 kills and 8 blocks, with the duo becoming the seventh and eighth players in program history, and the 10^th and 11^th in GNAC history, to reach the 400-block milestone in a career.
 
"Our middles, well, they were just really, really good tonight," added Flick-Williams. "Not only were they good on the attack, but also blocking and were solid from start to finish."
 
Senior outside hitter Abby Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) recorded a 12-kills, 17-dig double-double, her 20^th match this season with double-digits in kills and digs.
 
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Gabby Gunterman (Lake Stevens, WA) contributed 8 kills and sophomore outside Alison Davenport (Auburn, WA/Auburn Mountainview) had 7 kills and 2 blocks.
 
Senior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) recorded a match-high 43 assists, also tallying 9 digs and a pair of service aces.
 
The Yellowjackets were led by 6 kills from Maddi Vigil and 16 digs by Izela Alvarez.
 
The Vikings (21-3, 16-0 GNAC) are off this weekend after beating Simon Fraser at home on Tuesday in straight sets, and return to action next week with the final two home matches of the season. WWU hosts Western Oregon on Thursday for local heroes night and the annual canned food drive, and then welcome Concordia on Saturday for Senior Night. Both matches feature a 7 pm first serve in Carver Gym on the WWU campus.
 
"We are excited to get back home, get some rest, and start preparing for our home matches next week," said Flick-Williams. "We will continue to work on improving all areas of our game and get better with every outing we have, including practices."
 
SET 1 (WWU 25, MSUB 12): WWU pulled away from an early 4-3 score, going on a 9-1 run to take an 13-4 lead. MSUB climbed back to within 7 points at 14-7, but Western answered with a 7-0 run to pull ahead 21-7 and ran away with 25-12 first-set victory. Phelps led the Vikings with 5 kills in the opening frame, with Harper and Gunterman contributing 4 kills each. 
 
SET 2 (WWU 25, MSUB 12): The Vikings opened the second set on a 10-1 run, expanded the lead to 19-9 and went up 2-0 in the match with a 25-12 victory. Hall led the Vikings with 7 kills in the set, and as a team WWU hit .483
 
SET 3 (WWU 25, MSUB 22): MSUB went on an early 7-1 run to go from trailing 5-2 to taking a 3-point lead at 9-6. WWU answered with a 7-2 run out of its timeout to take a 13-11 lead. The 'Jackets battled back to tie the set at 20-20 and 21-21, before taking a 22-21 lead to force the Vikings to call a timeout. WWU answered with a quick 2-0 run out of the timeout to take a 23-22 lead, with MSUB calling its first timeout, and then won the 24^th point forcing the Yellowjackets to burn their final timeout. Phelps sealed the victory with her 12^th kill of the match to give the Vikings the 25-22 third-set victory, with WWU ending the match on a 4-0 run.
  Kills - Hall (14), Phelps (12), Harper (12)
Aces - Boesel (2), Lyall (2), Davenport (1)
Blocks - Hall (4), Harper (4), Phelps (2)
Assists - Boesel (43)
Digs - Phelps (17), Stephens (15), Boesel (9)
  WWU extended winning streaks of 21 matches this season and 34 consecutive GNAC victories (dating back to last season)…during the 21-match winning streak, the Vikings have won 63 of 73 sets and recorded 14 sweeps…21 consecutive wins is tied for the 2^nd-longest winning streak in program history…here is a look at the longest winning streaks in program history:
 

LONGEST WWU WIN STREAKS
1.	24	Aug. 29-Nov. 15, 2003
2.	21	Aug. 25, 2018-current
	21	Sept. 13-Nov. 30, 2007
4.	20	Aug. 25-Oct. 27, 2001
	20	Sept. 19-Dec. 1, 2017
6.	18	Sept. 14-Nov. 16, 2002
7.	16	Sept. 5-Oct. 17, 2015
8.	13	Sept. 5-Oct. 9, 2008
9.	12	Oct. 19-Nov. 16, 1990
10.	11	Sept. 24-Oct. 29, 2016

  Abby Phelps is now 28 kills short of the all-time GNAC record for kills with 1,486, with the record of 1,513 held by Sam Harthun (Alaska Fairbanks, 2012-15)…with 13.5 points Thursday night, Phelps now has 1,695.0 in her career, 3^rd-most in GNAC history.
 

PHELPS IN GNAC RECORD BOOK
KILLS
1.	Sam Harthun (UAF)	1,513	2012-15
2.	Kendra Bodine (NNU)	1,491	2014-17
3.	Abby Phelps (WWU)	1,486	2015-
4.	Sarah Sommerman (SU)	1,461	2002-05
5.	Alyssa Given (SPU)	1,454	2004-07
POINTS
1.	Louise Free (NNU)	1723.5	1999-02
2.	Alyssa Given (SPU)	1718.0	2004-07
3.	Abby Phelps (WWU)	1695.0	2015-
4.	Sam Harthun (UAF)	1681.0	2012-15
5.	Kendra Bodine (NNU)	1646.0	2014-17

  Swept the season series vs. MSUB with a pair of 3-0 wins…Vikings are now 26-1 all-time vs. the Yellowjackets, with a current 9-match winning streak.
  Michaela Hall and Kayleigh Harper each had 4 blocks, with both joining the 400-block mark for their careers…became the 7^th and 8^th players in program history to reach the 400-block milestone…Hall now has 403 career blocks to rank 7^th in WWU history, while Harper is right at 400 career blocks…the duo became the 10^th and 11^th players in GNAC history to pass 400 career blocks.
 

HALL/HARPER IN WWU RECORD BOOK
TOTAL BLOCKS
1.	Tanya Price	504	1995-98
2.	Tamara Locke	470	1989-92
3.	Denise Dodge	469	1988-91
4.	Shelly Borovich	428	1984-87
5.	Kris Jones	422	1991-94
6.	Laura Lindsay	411	1985-88
7.	Michaela Hall	403	2015-c
8.	Kayleigh Harper	400	2015-c
9.	Michelle Parker	390	1997-00
10.	Angie Alvord	367	2005-08

  Fans can follow WWU Volleyball online at WWUVikings.com/VB, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUVolleyball), Instagram (@WWUVB) and Facebook (@WWUVolleyball).  

VOLLEYBALL	CONF	PCT	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
Western Washington*	16-0	1.000	21-3	.875	8-0	10-0	3-3	Won 21
Alaska Anchorage	11-4	.733	18-5	.783	9-2	7-2	2-1	Won 2
Central Washington	11-4	.733	17-5	.773	7-2	7-3	3-0	Won 3
Alaska	8-7	.533	10-12	.455	5-3	3-5	2-4	Lost 2
Seattle Pacific	8-7	.533	10-12	.455	5-4	5-4	0-4	Lost 2
Simon Fraser	7-8	.467	10-11	.476	5-3	3-5	2-3	Lost 3
Concordia	7-8	.467	10-12	.455	7-4	3-5	0-3	Won 1
Montana State Billings	5-10	.333	11-14	.440	4-4	3-8	4-2	Lost 2
Northwest Nazarene	5-10	.333	5-17	.227	3-7	2-7	0-3	Lost 1
Western Oregon	3-12	.200	6-16	.273	1-8	3-4	2-4	Lost 2
Saint Martin's	2-13	.133	4-17	.190	1-6	2-8	1-3	Won 1
* clinched at least share of GNAC championship