Western Washington University Athletics

BILLINGS, Mont. – The No. 16 nationally-ranked Western Washington University volleyball team clinched its fourth consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference title with a 3-0 sweep over Montana State Billings Thursday night in Alterowitz Gym.
 
WWU swept the Yellowjackets by scores of 25-15, 25-23, 25-15 to extend its winning streak to 14 consecutive matches. The Vikings are now 19-4 overall and improved to 16-1 in GNAC play with two matches remaining in the regular season. MSUB dropped to 10-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play.
 
"I am extremely proud of this group and honored that I get to coach them," said WWU head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "We have made it our rally cry that it takes a galaxy to accomplish our goals and tonight was another great example of that with everyone contributing to this victory. It took us a little bit to find our stride tonight, but once we found it we really got going. Road wins in the GNAC are tough to come by, so this was a great victory."
 
Junior middle Olivia Fairchild led the Vikings with a 10-kill, 8-block performance resulting in a match-high 14.0 points. Fairchild hit .500 in the match with her 10 kills on 20 attacks without an attack error.
 
"Olivia has worked really hard for this moment and she is shining," said Flick-Williams. "It is great to see the fruits of the labor pay off in this case because she has really grinded it out and become a go-to player for us."
 
Sophomore outside hitter Calley Heilborn recorded another double-double, her 17th in 23 matches, notching 11 kills and 13 digs. Junior outside hitter Gabby Gunterman just missed out on a double-double with nine kills, a match-high 20 digs and added four blocks.
 
Sophomore Malia Aleaga led the offense to a .290 hitting percentage by dishing out 40 assists.
 
MSUB was led by 10 kills and 11.5 points from Joelle Mahowald and 16 digs by Bayli Monck.
  The Vikings (19-4, 15-1 GNAC) remains on the road playing at Seattle Pacific on Saturday with first serve scheduled for 7 pm in Brougham Pavilion. WWU completes the 2021 regular season on Saturday, November 20 hosting Simon Fraser at noon in Carver Gym. The complete 2021 WWU Volleyball schedule, complete with results and links to follow matches live, can be found online at wwuvikings.com/VB.
  WWU clinched its fourth consecutive GNAC title, the 11th in program history since joining the GNAC in 2001. Western is the first team to win four consecutive league titles in the history of GNAC Volleyball, bettering the three straight by WWU from 2001-02 and 2017-19. The Vikings officially receive the GNAC's automatic bid to the NCAA II West Regional that will be played December 3-5 at a to-be-determined site.
    SET 1 (WWU 25, MSUB 15): The teams exchanged points to start the match, with neither immediately claiming the momentum. The Yellowjackets were able to hold an early 6-4 lead after a 7-1 run, but the Vikings stormed back, scoring five unanswered to take a 9-6 lead. Western wouldn't let MSUB gain any traction from there, not conceding more than two consecutive points for the rest of the set. WWU finished strong with a 6-1 run to take the opening stanza 25-15. Offensively, Western was led by three kills from Olivia Fairchild on four attempts, as well as a trio of kills from Calley Heilborn (.300 hitting percentage). Gabby Gunterman anchored the defense with eight digs.
 
SET 2 (WWU 25, MSUB 23): The host Yellowjackets started the set strong, jumping out to an early 5-2 lead, and exchanging points to bring it to 8-5. The Vikings however were able to again overcome the early deficit, going on a 5-1 run, fueled by two kills each from Olivia Fairchild and Tess Biscup, to take their first lead of the set at 10-9. While Western was able to maintain that lead, the Yellowjackets hung around, not allowing the deficit to grow beyond two points until a Calley Heilborn kill made it 16-13. A 5-2 run, including three kills from Heilborn, stretched the lead to 19-15, The hosts rallied, going on a 5-1 run to tie it up at 20-20. The Vikings were able to put together a 4-1 run to bring it to 24-21. MSUB staved off consecutive set points to bring the score to 23-24, but a Chloe Roetcisoender kill out of a timeout claimed the set for the Vikings, 25-23. An entertaining frame was highlighted by five kills and seven digs from Gabby Gunterman. Heilborn also stood out, putting up five kills and three digs. WWU outhit MSUB .339-to-.240, in the set.
 
SET 3 (WWU 25, MSUB 15): WWU looked like champions in their GNAC clinching set, coming out of the gates firing to take a commanding 10-1 lead, which included four early kills from Olivia Fairchild. The Vikings wouldn't slow down from there, never letting the lead dip below eight points en-route to a 25-15 victory. Fairchild led the Vikings tallying a set-leading five kills. Calley Heilborn put up a good all-around set, with eight digs to go along with a pair of kills.
  Kills - Heilborn (11), Fairchild (10), Gunterman (9)
Aces - Lologo (1)
Blocks - Fairchild (8), Biscup (4), Gunterman (4)
Assists - Aleaga (40)
Digs - Gunterman (20), Heilborn (13), Woodruff (13)
Points - Fairchild 14.0, Heilborn (12.0), Gunterman (11.0), Biscup (9.0), Roetcisoender (8.0)
  Here is a look at the 2021 Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings following play on Thursday, with the Vikings clinching the outright conference title:
 

2021 STANDINGS		CONF	PCT	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
1.	Western Washington*	15-1	.937	19-4	.826	11-0	7-1	1-3	Won 14
2.	Simon Fraser	11-5	.687	17-6	.739	7-2	5-3	5-1	Lost 1
3.	Central Washington	10-5	.667	14-7	.667	10-0	3-5	1-2	Won 4
	Seattle Pacific	10-5	.667	14-8	.636	11-0	2-6	1-2	Won 3
	Alaska Anchorage	10-5	.667	17-10	.630	8-3	8-4	1-3	Lost 2
6.	Alaska Fairbanks	8-7	.533	15-12	.556	8-2	5-8	2-2	Won 1
7.	Montana State Billings	5-10	.333	10-15	.400	8-5	2-8	0-2	Lost 2
8.	Saint Martin's	3-12	.200	10-15	.400	3-6	2-7	5-2	Lost 4
9.	Northwest Nazarene	2-13	.133	5-18	.217	3-5	1-13	1-0	Lost 4
	Western Oregon	2-13	.133	4-18	.181	2-6	0-8	2-4	Won 1
* 2021 GNAC Champions Thursday's GNAC Results #16 Western Washington 3, at Montana State Billings 0 Central Washington 3, at Saint Martin's 0 at Western Oregon 3, Northwest Nazarene 1 at Seattle Pacific 3, Simon Fraser 1

  WWU completed the season sweep over MSUB also sweeping the Yellowjackets 25-17, 25-11, 25-18 on October 16 in Bellingham. WWU has now won 13 consecutive matches vs. MSUB and lead the all-time series 30-1.
  Here is a match-by-match look at the 2021 season through the first 23 matches of the season:
 

Date	Opponent		Score	Score-by-set
9/3	Sonoma State	W	3-1	26-24,23-25,25-18,25-18
9/4	MSU Denver (#11)	W	3-2	25-21,24-26,18-25,30-28,15-7
9/5	Chaminade	W	3-1	25-20,22-25,25-23,25-18
9/10	vs. Wayne State (#17)	L	0-3	22-25,17-25,22-25
9/10	vs. Lewis (#5)	L	0-3	16-25,24-26,16-25
9/11	vs. Lynn (RV)	W	3-2	22-25,25-16,23-25,25-20,15-11
9/11	vs. Cal State San Bernardino (#6)	L	2-3	23-25,35-33,25-17,21-25,13-15
9/18	at Simon Fraser* (#20)	W	3-2	25-13,19-25,20-25,25-23,15-9
9/23	at Central Washington*	L	1-3	13-25,25-19,15-25,23-25
9/25	at Northwest Nazarene*	W	3-1	25-13,25-27,25-22,25-22
10/2	Alaska Fairbanks*	W	3-2	25-13,20-25,25-23,23-25,15-13
10/7	at Western Oregon*	W	3-1	25-12,23-25,25-20,25-17
10/9	at Saint Martin's*	W	3-1	25-19,25-17,21-25,25-19
10/14	Seattle Pacific*	W	3-0	25-22,27-25,25-22
10/16	Montana State Billings*	W	3-0	25-17,25-11,25-18
10/21	Northwest Nazarene*	W	3-0	25-14,25-14,25-12
10/23	Central Washington*	W	3-0	25-13,25-22,25-22
10/28	at Alaska Fairbanks*	W	3-2	23-25,27-25,25-16,21-25,15-11
10/30	at Alaska Anchorage*	W	3-0	25-22,25-23,25-19
11/4	Saint Martin's*	W	3-0	25-22,25-15,25-23
11/6	Western Oregon*	W	3-0	25-17,25-17,25-18
11/8	Alaska Anchorage*	W	3-1	25-21,23-25,28-26,25-22
11/11	at Montana State Billings*	W	3-0	25-15,25-23,25-15
11/13	at Seattle Pacific*
11/20	Simon Fraser*

  WWU is 19-4 overall and 15-1 in GNAC play, going 8-2 in three-set matches, 6-1 in four-set contests and 5-1 in five sets. Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2021 season:
 

2021 RECORD BREAKDOWN
Overall Record	19-4
Streak	W14
Home	11-0
Away	7-1
Neutral	1-3
GNAC Record	15-1
3-Set Matches	8-2
4-Set Matches	6-1
5-Set Matches	5-1
Ranked Opponents	2-3
Record by Jersey
Navy Blue	6-1
White	2-0
Light Blue	6-2
Dark Gray	5-1

  WWU has a current 14-match winning streak, a stretch of victories that began with a four-set road win over Northwest Nazarene on September 25. The Vikings were perfect during October going 9-0, with five 3-0 sweeps. WWU has now recorded a double-digit winning streak in each of the last six "full" seasons: 17 (2019), 30 (2018), 20 (2017), 11 (2016), 16 (2015).
  The Vikings have now won 85 of their last 98 matches dating back to the 2018 season (85-13/.867) when the Vikings were the NCAA II national runner-up. WWU is also 112-17 (.868) dating back to the start of the 2017 season.