SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Western Washington University volleyball team battled back from a 2-0 deficit, and nearly completed the comeback, but dropped the deciding fifth set against Azusa Pacific to have another historic season come to a close with a 3-2 loss Friday evening in the semifinal round of the NCAA II West Regional.
Game scores were 19-25, 21-25, 25-21, 28-16, 13-15 with Azusa Pacific advancing to Saturday's West Regional Final. The defeat ends a miraculous streak of the Vikings reaching the West Regional Final in four consecutive seasons from 2015-18, which included a pair of titles to advance to the NCAA II National Championships.
The No. 2 seed Vikings fell behind 2-0 in the match against the No. 6 seed Cougars dropping the first two sets 25-19 and 25-21. But WWU battled back to win the third set 25-21 and fought off three match points for a 28-26 fourth-set win. In the deciding fifth set, APU got off to a quick 3-0 lead to set the tone early, but WWU used a late 3-0 run to tie the set at 13-13. Coming out of a timeout, APU rattled off a pair of points for the upset victory.
The Vikings closed out another historic season with a 27-3 overall record, made its eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA postseason and won a third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference title.
Azusa Pacific continued its late-season surge, winning its 12th consecutive match to improve to 28-4 overall. The win over the No. 2 seed Vikings comes a day after knocking off No. 3 seed Cal State LA in straight sets.
"If you are a fan of volleyball, that was a pretty fun match to watch. I can't say enough about this team that I have…I am so proud of how they battled and fought. The long-and-short of it is I think we made some youthful plays, and we are a youthful team, and those are the ones you wish sometimes you could get back," said 20th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams, who owns a program-best 451 wins. "The way the team battled and their spirit and their heart was incredible and that to me is the character of this team and that is what I take from this match. We may have lost, and lost a tough battle, but we battled until the end."
WWU redshirt freshman outside hitter Calley Heilborn finished with a match-high 22.0 points, recording an 18-kill, 16-dig double-double and also equaled her career-high with 6 blocks.
Senior middle Kayleigh Harper added 14 kills and 5 blocks for 17.5 points and sophomore outside hitter Gabby Gunterman contributed an all-around match with 15 kills, 8 digs and a pair of blocks.
Senior libero Mae Thungc finished with 22 digs to pass the 1,100 mark for her career and redshirt freshman setter Malia Aleaga had 51 assists and 3 kills. Sophomore middle Chloe Roetcisoenderadded 8 kills and 9 blocks for 12.5 points.
"I think it shows what type of team we are, being down 2-0, not a lot of teams can come back and grind out those next two sets and I think it shows our mental toughness and the things we've been working on all season," said Thungc in the post-match news conference.
The Vikings were limited to a .177 hitting percentage, their lowest mark of the season, and were blocked a season-high 14 times.
Azusa Pacific was led by 17 kills from Katrina Radisic and a 10-kill, 14-dig double-double from Annaka Jorgenson. Libero Bailey Henington tallied a match-high 27 digs.
SET 1 (APU 25, WWU 19): The Vikings dropped the opening set to the Cougars 25-19, falling behind early and were never able to make up the deficit. After trailing 10-5, WWU battled back to a one-point deficit at 15-14, but APU answered with a 6-1 run to extend its lead to 21-15. The Vikings were limited to a .094 hitting percentage, uncharacteristically with 12 hitting errors, and the Cougars were at .300.
SET 2 (APU 25, WWU 21): Azusa Pacific again took early control of the second set and never trailed to go up 2-0 in the match with a 25-21 win. APU went on a 9-3 run to build a 7-point lead at 15-8, but WWU battled back with an extended run of its own. The Vikings used a 9-3 stretch to pull to within one point at 18-17, but was not able to pull even in the set. The Cougars finished on a 6-3 run to go up 2-0 in the match.
SET 3 (WWU 25, APU 21): The Vikings started on the comeback trail taking the third set 25-21, closing out the set on a 5-0 run to pull to within one set down 2-1. After opening a sizeable lead to start at 7-3, APU went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead 11-10. WWU answered with a 6-2 run to go up 16-13, but once again APU battled back and led 21-20. The Vikings used a pair of back-to-back blocks byKayleigh Harper and Malia Aleaga to take a 23-21 lead and then rode the hot serving of Tupu Lologo to seal the 25-21 win.
SET 4 (WWU 28, APU 26): WWU and APU battled through 15 tie scores and there five lead changes, but the Vikings came out on top 28-26 to force a deciding fifth set. WWU led 21-19, but the Cougars went on a 4-0 run and led 24-22 looking to clinch the match to advance to the regional final. But the Vikings fended off three match points, prevailing 28-26 with Tupu Lologo serving an ace for the set point.
SET 5 (APU 15, WWU 13): Azusa Pacific got off to a quick start scoring the first three points of the deciding fifth set, and led 8-5 when the teams switched benches. The Cougars built a 5-point lead at 10-5, but the Vikings again wouldn't back down mounting a 4-1 rally to close to within two points at 11-9. APU led 13-10, but the Vikings rattled off three consecutive points to tie the set at 13-13. The Cougars closed out the set and the match scoring consecutive points after calling their final timeout for the two-point victory and the 3-2 win in the match.
Kills - Heilborn (18), Gunterman (15), Harper (14)
Aces - Lologo (2), Harper (1), Aleaga (1)
Blocks - Roetcisoender (9), Heilborn (6), Harper (5)
Assists - Aleaga (51)
Digs - Thungc (22), Heilborn(16), Lologo (13)
Points - Heilborn (22.0), Harper (17.5), Gunterman (16.0), Roetcisoender (12.5)
Calley Heilborn finished her freshman season with 355 kills, tied for 2nd-most by a freshman in program history with Abby Phelps (2015)…the WWU freshman record is 379 by Marlayna Geary in 2009…Mae Thungc finished her career with 1,111 career digs, 13th-best in program history…Kayleigh Harper ended her illustrious career with 597 career blocks, the most in the history of WWU and GNAC volleyball…the senior class of Harper, Thungc and Joslyn Bopray helped lead the program to a 107-19 record over the last four seasons.
WWU concluded its 14th overall trip to the NCAA II Championships and eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA II West Regional Championships. The program is now 22-14 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and has advanced to the NCAA II West Regional Championship Match in four of the last five seasons (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018).
WWU was defeated by Azusa Pacific for the first time in four meetings in the all-time series. The Vikings previously beat the Cougars in 2018 (3-0), 2014 (3-1) and 1997 (3-0).
Fans can follow WWU Volleyball online at WWUVikings.com/VB, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUVolleyball), Instagram (@WWUVB) and Facebook (@WWUVolleyball). All home matches feature a live webcast, as well as most road matches, with links on how to follow the games available at WWUVikings.com/Live.
The WWU volleyball program has risen to elite level by advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships in each of the last eight seasons and 14 of the last 19 dating back to the 2001 season. The winner of 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, Western won the 2018 GNAC title with a perfect 20-0 record, the 2017 championship by posting a 19-1 league and became a 3-peat champion with an 18-2 mark in 2019. Over the last three seasons the Vikings have combined to go 84-11 overall and 57-3 in conference play, and over the last five seasons are 134-25. Led by 20th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams, the Vikings have posted a 202-40 record over the last eight seasons (.835 winning percentage) and have played in the NCAA II West Region championship match in four of the last five seasons, winning titles in 2015 and 2018. WWU played for the NCAA II national championship in 2007 and 2018, both national runner-up finishes.
