BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The No. 3 nationally-ranked Western Washington University volleyball team opens the 2019 season this week with four matches at the West Florida Invitational in Pensacola, Florida. 

 

The Vikings open the season on Thursday taking on tournament host and No. 24 ranked West Florida at 6 pm CT/4 pm PT in the UWF Field House. WWU also faces No. 13 Wheeling and Spring Hill College on Friday, and Florida Tech on Saturday. 

 

WWU enters the season with its highest preseason national ranking in program history and was picked atop the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll gathering seven of the 11 first-place votes. 

 

Head coach Diane Flick-Williams enters her 20^th season at the helm of the program, guiding the Vikings to 13 NCAA Championships appearances, including a string of seven consecutive. Western is coming off a record-breaking season in 2018 going 30-4, and played in the NCAA II National Championship Match for the second time in program history. WWU has recorded a winning record in each of Flick-Williams 19 seasons as head coach, tied for the 9th-longest streak in NCAA Division II.

 

Here is a look at the tournament schedule for the 2019 West Florida Invitational that will be played Thursday-Saturday in the UWF Field House in Pensacola, Florida. All games will stream live online and feature live statistical updates with links available at WWUVikings.com/Live. Pensacola is in the central time zone, two hours ahead of Bellingham time, with match times listed below local to the site:

 

 

The 2019 Vikings will look to replace three players that earned AVCA All-America honors last season and a five-member senior class that helped the program to a 107-22 (.829) record over the last four seasons. But the program still returns three starters and nine total letterwinners, and adds six redshirt freshman into the mix. Senior middle Kayleigh Harper is a two-time All-American and a three-time First Team All-GNAC selection, and was selected as the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year. Sophomore outside hitter Gabby Gunterman and senior libero/defensive specialist Mae Thungc were also selected to the 2019 Preseason All-GNAC Team.

 

"We had a very good spring and carried that into the fall where we learned a lot about ourselves. The team worked extremely hard during the grind of the preseason and I am looking forward to watching them grow throughout the season. We have another tough non-conference schedule with two tournaments, and then we head right into a tough GNAC schedule with NNU and Central Washington. We are so appreciative of all our support, especially from last year's amazing West Regional turnout, and can't wait to see our fans back in Carver Gym cheering this team on!"

 

WWU hosted the University of British Columbia in a preseason exhibition match on Saturday, August 31 in Carver Gym to help prepare for the season. The Vikings and Thunderbirds played four sets in the non-counting match, with WWU winning all four 25-21, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23 over the defending U SPORTS Canadian National Champions. Redshirt freshman Calley Heilborn led the way with a 15-kill, 17-dig double-double and senior middle Kayleigh Harper added 14 kills on a .583 hitting percentage and 6 blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Gabby Gunterman contributed 11 kills and 15 digs for the double-double.

 

This marks the third consecutive season and fourth time in the last five years the Vikings will open the season with a cross country road trip. WWU opened the 2015 season in Tampa, 2016 in Lakeland and is making its second consecutive trip to the West Florida Invitational. The Vikings went 1-3 during the UWF Invitational last year, a tournament that featured five ranked teams, with the 3-2 victory over UWF jump-starting what turned into a 30-match winning streak leading up to the NCAA II National Championship Match. 

 

WWU will play 10 regular season matches on WECU Court in Carver Gym, all conference matches. The Vikings make their home debut Sept. 19 and Sept 21 hosting Northwest Nazarene (Thursday) and Central Washington (Saturday). All home matches in Carver Gym feature a 7 pm first serve and tickets can be purchased in advance at WWUVikings.com/VB_Tickets or at the Carver Gym Box Office one hour prior to the start of the match. The Vikings have won 31 consecutive matches in Carver Gym dating back to 2014 season (played two seasons at Whatcom CC in 2015-16), including a perfect 13-0 record last season. WWU averaged 752 fans in its 13 home matches last season to rank 7^th among NCAA Division II programs.

 

Coming off a 30-4 season and a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Division II Championships, the Vikings earned its highest preseason ranking in program history checking in at No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Preseason Coaches Poll. WWU has extended its streak of being ranked in each of the last 95 AVCA polls dating back to the first week of the 2012 season. The No. 3 preseason ranking marks the fifth time Western has been listed in the national top-10 to open a season, joining No. 9 in 2004, No. 10 in 2008, No. 5 in 2016 and last season.

 

The Vikings were selected as a preseason favorite in the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, gathering 7 of the 11 first-place votes and tied in-state rival Central Washington with 114 total points to headline the list teams predicted to compete for the conference championship. Alaska Anchorage was picked third with 93 points, Simon Fraser fourth with 90 points and Alaska Fairbanks rounded out the top five with 75 points.

 

 

Led by senior middle blocker Kayleigh Harper, the Vikings had three players selected to the 2019 GNAC Preseason All-Conference Team. Harper, a three-time First Team All-GNAC selection, was selected by conference coaches as the Preseason Player of the Year to headline the list of 14 preseason All-GNAC selections. Joining Harper on the preseason all-conference list are senior defensive specialist Mae Thungc and sophomore outside hitter Gabby Gunterman.

 

WWU finished the historic 2018 season with a 30-4 overall record and were a perfect 20-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play to win the conference championship for the second consecutive season. The Vikings were selected as the No. 1 seed in the West Region and hosted the NCAA II West Regional Championship in Carver Gym for the first time in program history. WWU defeated rival Cal State San Bernardino in the regional final to advance to the NCAA Elite 8 for the third time in program history. WWU finished the season 30-4 and was the NCAA II National Runner-Up.

 

The Vikings are the two-time defending GNAC champions, combining to go 39-1 over the last two seasons in conference play. WWU became the first conference team to go 20-0 in league play last season, claiming the program's ninth GNAC title.

 

Among NCAA II team rankings last season, WWU finished 4th  \averaging 2.65 blocks per set (6th-best in program history) Also finished 14th in kills per set (14.24), 15th in hitting percentage (.254), 21st in assists per set (13.24) and 22nd in digs per set (19.23)…went 20-2 in 3-set matches, 5-1 in 4-set matches and 5-1 when going the distance in 5 sets (18-4 over last 4 seasons in 5-set matches).

The Vikings have reached the 20-win milestone in each of their last seven seasons and 29 times in the 47-year history of the program. The 30 wins last season tied for 3^rd-most in program history. Head coach Diane Flick-Williams has guided the program to at least 20 wins in 14 of her 19 seasons at the helm of the program. Over the last seven seasons (since 2012), WWU has combined to go 175-37 (.825).

 

WWU Volleyball head coach Diane Flick-Williams enters her 20^th season and is the winningest coach in program history and GNAC history. She owns a career record of 424-107 (.798), guiding the Vikings to 14 seasons of 20 or more victories, 13 NCAA Championship appearances (7 consecutive), 3 national tournament appearances (2007, 2015, 2018), 9 GNAC championships and received GNAC Coach of the Year honors 10 times (2001-03, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012-13, 2017-18). Amongst active Division II coaches, she enters the 2019 season ranked 10^th in winning percentage (.798) and 23rd in victories (424). Last year she became the 32nd NCAA II head coach to record 400 career victories.

 

WWU is coming off a seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA II Championships, the 13^th overall in program history. Western advanced to the NCAA National Championship Match for the second time (also in 2007), falling in a five-set thriller to the University of Tampa. The Vikings have advanced to the West Regional Final in each of the last four seasons, including winning regional titles in 2015 (in Anchorage, AK) and last season (in Bellingham). Last season also marked the third appearance in the national tournament (final 8) and second in the last four seasons. Each of WWU's trips to the national tournament has included at least one victory (final 4). WWU is 21-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

 

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

 

The WWU volleyball program has risen to elite level by advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships in each of the last seven seasons and 13 of the last 18 dating back to the 2001 season. The winner of nine Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, Western won the 2018 GNAC title with a perfect 20-0 record and the 2017 championship by posting a 19-1 league. Over the last two seasons the Vikings have combined to go 57-8 overall and 39-1 in conference play, and over the last four seasons are 107-22 (.829). Led by 20^th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams, the Vikings have posted a 175-37 record over the last seven seasons (.825 winning percentage) and have played in the NCAA II West Region championship match each of the last four seasons (2015-18), winning titles in 2015 and 2018. WWU played for the NCAA II national championship in 2007 and 2018, both national runner-up finishes, have advanced to the NCAA Final Four in two of the past four seasons (2015 and 2015).