ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sophomore outside hitter Devyn Oestreich recorded her 8th double-double of the season with a team-high 10-kill, 14-dig performance as the Western Washington University volleyball team went on the road to defeat Alaska Anchorage in straight sets (26-24, 25-23, 25-16) Saturday afternoon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play inside the Alaska Airlines Center.

The win moves the Vikings into a tie for second place with Central Washington and Simon Fraser with a 7-4 record in GNAC play (7-12 overall).

The Vikings showed a lot of mettle in the opening two sets as they battled back from early deficits in both. Down 16-12 in the first, Western used a mid-set 10-4 run and four aces to eventually knock off the Seawolves 26-24. In the second, the Vikings overcame an 18-12 deficit and took their first lead at 22-21. They went on to close out the set 25-23. The decisive third set went 25-16 in favor of the Vikings to close out the 3-0 and the season sweep of the Seawolves.

Redshirt freshman outside hitter Delaney Speer topped the Vikings with 11.0 points as she tallied a 6-kill, 7-dig, 4-block, 2-ace match while sophomore Karli Tri put up 6 kills and 5 blocks from the middle. Redshirt freshman setter Caroline Hansen notched a game-high 20 assists to lead a Western attack that got contributions from up and down the lineup with five players recording six or more kills while hitting a season-best .233.

Redshirt freshman middle Emily Vossenkuhl tallied eight kills on a .500 hitting percentage and redshirt freshman libero Finnley Claeys had 11 digs.

"I really liked the way our team responded after Thursday," said WWU head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "Our serve-receive with Devyn (Oestreich), Delaney (Speer) and Finnley (Claeys) was solid today giving our middles a lot of opportunities."

Anchorage, which fell to 12-14 overall and 4-7 in the GNAC, got a match-high 13 kills from Nicole Blue.

The back-and-forth match featured 24 tie scores, including 15 in the first set, and 11 lead changes.

WWU (7-12, 7-4 GNAC) returns home next week with one match hosting border rival Simon Fraser University at 7 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym. The complete 2023 WWU Volleyball schedule, with links to statistics, webcasts, live stats and more can be found online at wwuvikings.com/VB.

Kills – Oestreich (10), Vossenkuhl (8), Kepley (6), Tri (6)

Aces – Speer (2), Hansen (2), Tri (1)

Blocks – Tri (4), Speer (4), Grant (3)

Assists – Hansen (20), Holland, (18)

Digs – Oestreich (14), Claeys (11), Speer (7)

Points – Speer (11.0), Oestreich (10.5), Vossenkuhl (9.0), Tri (9.0)

Here is a look at the statistical comparison between WWU and UAA:

WWU swept the season series vs. UAA also winning in four sets earlier this season in Carver Gym. The Vikings now lead the all-time series vs. the Seawolves 40-21 while winning nine of the last 13 matches in the series. Western improved to 22-11 in matches vs. UAA in Anchorage, with an 9-3 record in the last 12 away matches. WWU is also 7-3 vs. UAA in the Alaska Airlines Center since the facility opened in 2014.

Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2023 season:

Here is a look updated records for the 10 GNAC volleyball programs through matches played on Saturday. The Vikings moved into a three-way tie for second place in the conference standings with a 7-4 record: 

Here is a match-by-match look at the 2023 season with current results and the schedule:

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.