LACEY, Wash. – Western Washington University senior outside hitter Abby Phelps became the all-time leader in kills in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history, highlighting the Vikings 3-0 sweep over Saint Martin's Thursday night in conference action at Marcus Pavilion.

The No. 2 nationally and No. 1 West Region ranked Vikings tied the program record winning their 24^th consecutive match to improve to 24-3 overall. Having already clinched the GNAC Championship, WWU improved to 19-0 in conference play with its 37^th consecutive league victory dating back to last season, handling the Saints in the 25-12, 25-16, 25-16 victory. WWU has won its last 20 sets and has dropped only one set over its last 12 matches dating back to the end of September.

"I thought tonight was a very efficient and balanced team effort where we were in control and made some small adjustments on the fly," said head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "It was very business-like for the team tonight…with Brette (Boesel) evenly distributing the ball, great serving and good defense. It was a great team victory."

The Vikings used a balanced attack to remain unbeaten in conference play, with no players recording double-digits in kills. But WWU had five players with 6 or more kills, led by 9 kills on a .471 hitting percentage from senior middle Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA).

Junior middle Kayleigh Harper (Oak Harbor, WA) added 8 kills and 4 blocks for a team-high 11.5 points and Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) had 7 kills and a pair of service aces. 

Sophomore outside hitter Alison Davenport (Auburn, WA/Auburn Mountainview) added to the balanced attack with 7 kills (.375) and 10 digs, and redshirt freshman Gabby Gunterman (Lake Stevens, WA) recorded 6 kills. 

Senior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) paced the offense with 34 assists, but also had 7 digs, 4 kills and 3 service aces in the all-around effort. Senior libero Aubrey Stephens (Colville, WA) recorded a match-high 15 digs in the victory.

Phelps set the GNAC record with her second kill of the match, midway through the first set, passing the previous record of 1,513 kills by Sam Harthun of Alaska Fairbanks from 2012-15.

"The best thing I heard tonight was from one of our younger players talking about Abby, was how much she deserves these awards and honors because of her work ethic and how hard she works at getting better," added Flick-Williams on her All-American outside hitter. "She is just such a wonderful team player, and she feels and blessed to accomplish this because she truly believes it is a team accomplishment."

Saint Martin's dropped to 4-21 overall and 2-17 in GNAC play its 40^th consecutive loss to the Vikings. Megan Vernoy led SMU with 8 kills.

The Vikings (24-3, 19-0 GNAC) close out the regular season on Saturday at Seattle Pacific with first serve scheduled for 4 pm in Royal Brougham Pavilion. The match vs. the Falcons will feature a live webcast and statistical updates, with links available at WWUVikings.com/Live. The NCAA Selection Show will air at 7 pm Sunday night on NCAA.com, with the No. 1 seeds from the eight regions in NCAA Division II announced starting at 6 pm via social media.

SET 1 (WWU 25, SMU 12): The Vikings and Saints fought through four early ties, and SMU had a 2-point lead at 5-3, but the Vikings went on a 6-0 run to take a 9-5 lead forcing the Saints to call their first timeout. Saint Martin's pulled to within four points at 14-10, but the Vikings went on a 11-2 to close out the first set for the 25-12 WWU victory. Davenport and Gunterman led the Vikings with 3 kills each, while Hall, Harper and Phelps each had a pair of kills as WWU hit .423 in the set.

SET 2 (WWU 25, SMU 16): WWU went up 2-0 in the match with a 25-16 second-set victory, led by 4 kills from Harper. WWU jumped out to a commanding 12-5 lead in the second set, but the Saints came out of their timeout going on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to three points at 12-9. But the Vikings answered with a 9-3 run extending its lead to 21-12 and never looked back.

SET 3 (WWU 25, SMU 16): The Vikings came out on a 4-0 run to open the set and held at least a 4-point lead throughout the middle part of the set. With the game at 10-7, Western went on a 6-1 run to pull away en route to the 25-16 win to clinch the sweep. 

Kills - Hall (9), Harper (8), Phelps (7), Davenport (7), Gunterman (7)

Aces - Boesel (3), Phelps (2), Davenport (1)

Blocks - Harper (4), Hall (3), Davenport (2)

Assists - Boesel (34)

Digs - Stephens (15), Thungc (11), Davenport (10)

WWU extended winning streaks of 24 matches this season and 37 consecutive GNAC victories (dating back to last season)…during the 24-match winning streak, the Vikings have won 72 of 82 sets and recorded 17 sweeps…24 consecutive wins matches the program record set in 2003…here is a look at the longest winning streaks in program history:

Abby Phelps became the GNAC's all-time leader in kills Thursday night, passing Sam Harthun's record of 1,513 career kills set at Alaska Fairbanks from 2012-15…Phelps now owns the GNAC's all-time kills and points record, in addition to holding both marks in the WWU rerecord book.

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

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