BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The No. 11 nationally-ranked Western Washington University volleyball team completed a perfect start to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season sweeping Montana State Billings 3-0 Saturday evening on WECU Court in Carver Gym.
Coming off a 3-0 sweep in Thursday's conference opener, the Vikings defeated the visiting Yellowjackets 25-15, 25-20, 25-17 to improve to 7-3 on the season and 2-0 in GNAC play.
Senior outside hitter Calley Heilborn paced the Vikings with a 10-kill, 10-dig double-double and senior middle Olivia Fairchild added 10 kills on a .833 hitting percentage.
"Tonight was an all-around solid team effort and a good way to open GNAC play this week. I thought it was one of our better offensive nights and probably one of our scrappiest defensive performances of the season," said WWU head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "Calley (Heilborn) has been a steady double-double performer for us and showed that tonight. I thought Malia (Aleaga) once again did a nice job distributing the ball and our middles were very efficient. We worked on a lot of things in practice early in the week coming back from Colorado and we did a nice job implementing them into the match."
Sophomore Gabby Kepley and senior Chloe Roetcisoender each tallied nine kills, and senior Gabby Gunterman had six kills, 10 digs and three service aces.
MSUB (6-3, 0-2 GNAC) was led by a match-high 11 kills from outside hitter Jahsita Fa'ali'i and 15 digs by libero Christine Funk.
WWU (7-3, 2-0 GNAC) concludes its stretch of three consecutive home matches to open the GNAC schedule hosting Simon Fraser University next Saturday (9/17) on WECU Court in Carver Gym.
The Vikings remain at home hosting Simon Fraser University next Saturday (9/17) with first serve scheduled for 7 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym. The complete 2022 WWU Volleyball schedule, with links to statistics, webcasts, live stats and more can be found online at wwuvikings.com/VB.
Kills – Fairchild (10), Heilborn (10), Roetcisoender (9)
Aces – Gunterman (3), Heilborn (2), May (1)
Blocks – None
Assists – Aleaga (40), Woodruff (3)
Digs – Gunterman (10), Heilborn (10), Woodruff (7)
Points – Heilborn (12.0), Fairchild (10.0), Kepley (9.0), Roetcisoender (9.0), Gunterman (9.0)
Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2022 season:
|
2022 RECORD BREAKDOWN
|
|
Overall Record
|
7-3
|
|
Streak
|
W2
|
|
Home
|
6-0
|
|
Away
|
0-0
|
|
Neutral
|
1-3
|
|
GNAC Record
|
2-0
|
|
3-Set Matches
|
5-0
|
|
4-Set Matches
|
1-0
|
|
5-Set Matches
|
1-2
|
|
Ranked Opponents
|
2-3
|
|
Winning First Set
|
7-1
|
|
Dropping First Set
|
0-2
|
|
Record by Jersey
|
|
White
|
2-1
|
|
Light Blue
|
2-1
|
|
Dark Gray
|
3-0
|
|
Navy Blue
|
0-1
|
Here is a match-by-match look at the 2022 season following Saturday's sweep of MSUB:
|
Date
|
Opponent
|
|
Score
|
Score-by-set
|
|
8/25
|
Ferris State (#20)
|
W
|
3-0
|
25-8,25-19,29-27
|
|
8/25
|
Sonoma State
|
W
|
3-0
|
25-20,25-21,25-20
|
|
8/26
|
Regis (RV)
|
W
|
3-1
|
25-16,18-25,27-25,25-21
|
|
8/27
|
Cal State LA (RV)
|
W
|
3-0
|
25-20,25-21,26-24
|
|
9/2
|
Lewis (#18)
|
W
|
3-2
|
25-22,22-25,22-25,25-21,15-9
|
|
9/2
|
Concordia-St. Paul (#6)
|
L
|
2-3
|
19-25,25-21,12-25,25-19,12-15
|
|
9/3
|
NW Missouri State (#10)
|
L
|
1-2
|
25-22,16-25,16-25,21-25
|
|
9/3
|
West Florida (#5)
|
L
|
2-3
|
23-25,20-25,25-21,25-22,19-21
|
|
9/8
|
Seattle Pacific (GNAC)
|
W
|
3-0
|
25-19,25-17,25-23
|
|
9/10
|
Montana St. Billings (GNAC)
|
W
|
3-0
|
25-15,25-20,25-17
|
WWU is off to a 6-0 start to the season in home matches on WECU Court in Carver Gym, after recording a perfect 12-0 record last season. The Vikings have now won 27 consecutive matches in Carver Gym dating back to the 2019 season (last loss 11/14/19 vs. UAA in 5 sets). Western owns an all-time record of 302-82 (.786) in Carver Gym and since moving back into the renovated facility to start the 2017 season is 58-1. During the 23 seasons with head coach Diane Flick-Williams at the helm of the program the Vikings have combined to go 187-16 (.921) in Carver. Since debuting the new Taraflex court in 2021 the Vikings are a perfect 18-0.
WWU has won 14 consecutive matches against Montana State Billings dating back to the 2014 season. The Vikings now lead the all-time series 31-1 with a perfect 16-0 record in Bellingham (14-0 in Carver Gym).
VIKINGS NEARING 1000 ALL-TIME WINS
The WWU volleyball program is in its 51st season and is nearing a historic milestone. The Vikings have recorded an all-time record of 998-575-7 for a .634 winning percentage. WWU is now just two wins short of the 1,000-win milestone in program history.
Here is a look updated records for the 10 GNAC volleyball programs following the opening weekend of the 2022 conference schedule.
|
GNAC VOLLEYBALL
|
CONF
|
PCT
|
OVERALL
|
PCT
|
HOME
|
AWAY
|
NEUTRAL
|
STREAK
|
|
1.
|
Western Washington
|
2-0
|
1.000
|
7-3
|
.700
|
6-0
|
0-0
|
1-3
|
Won 2
|
|
|
Alaska Anchorage
|
2-0
|
1.000
|
12-1
|
.923
|
6-0
|
2-0
|
4-1
|
Won 4
|
|
|
Simon Fraser
|
2-0
|
1.000
|
5-6
|
.455
|
2-0
|
0-1
|
3-5
|
Won 2
|
|
|
Northwest Nazarene
|
1-0
|
1.000
|
8-1
|
.889
|
5-1
|
0-0
|
3-0
|
Won 6
|
|
5.
|
Western Oregon
|
1-1
|
.500
|
5-5
|
.500
|
0-0
|
1-1
|
4-4
|
Lost 1
|
|
|
Alaska Fairbanks
|
1-1
|
.500
|
11-3
|
.786
|
5-1
|
2-1
|
4-1
|
Won 1
|
|
7.
|
Central Washington
|
0-1
|
.000
|
5-4
|
.556
|
0-0
|
1-2
|
4-2
|
Lost 2
|
|
|
Saint Martin's
|
0-2
|
.000
|
9-2
|
.818
|
5-0
|
0-2
|
4-0
|
Lost 2
|
|
|
Montana State Billings
|
0-2
|
.000
|
6-3
|
.667
|
4-0
|
1-2
|
1-1
|
Lost 2
|
|
|
Seattle Pacific
|
0-2
|
.000
|
2-8
|
.200
|
0-0
|
0-5
|
2-3
|
Lost 4
|
|
Saturday's GNAC Results
|
|
at Western Washington 3, Montana State Billings 0
at Simon Fraser 3, Seattle Pacific 2
at Northwest Nazarene 3, Central Washington 0
at Alaska Fairbanks 3, Saint Martin's 1
at Alaska Anchorage 3, Western Oregon 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 is in its 51st season as a varsity intercollegiate sport in 2022, rising to an elite level by advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships in each of the last nine seasons and 15 of the last 20 dating back to the 2001 season. The program is now just two wins short of 1,000, with an all-time record of 998-574-7 (.634). The winner of 11 Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Vikings have won the last four GNAC titles with a perfect 19-1 record in 2017, perfect 20-0 mark in 2018, an 18-2 league record in 2019 and clinched the four-peat with a 17-1 record in 2021. Led by 23rd-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams (492-120/.804) the Vikings have posted a 243-50 record over the last 11 seasons (.829 winning percentage) and played in the NCAA II West Region championship match five out of the last six seasons (2015-21), winning titles in 2015, 2018 and 2021 (also 2007). WWU played for the NCAA II national championship in 2007 and 2018, both national runner-up finishes, and have advanced to the NCAA Final Four in three of the past six seasons (2015, 2018, 2021).
