BURNABY, B.C. – In a battle of top 20 teams, the No. 18 Western Washington University volleyball team nearly completed a reverse sweep before dropping a tightly-contested five-set match at No. 9 Simon Fraser University Friday evening in West Gym.

WWU completed the first half of the GNAC schedule with a 7-2 record with the 17-25, 26-28, 25-20, 26-24, 12-15 setback against the Red Leafs. WWU lost for only the third time overall (13-3) in 16 matches while playing its sixth match against a nationally ranked opponent (4-2). SFU improved to 13-2 overall and 7-2 in conference play.

After SFU took the first two sets, the Vikings started their comeback with a 25-20 third-set victory and pushed the match to a decisive fifth set winning 26-24 in the fourth.

WWU trailed 8-5 in the fifth set when the teams switched sides, igniting a 4-0 run by the Vikings to grab a 9-8 lead. Western led 12-11 following a kill by Devyn Oestreich and an attack error by SFU, but the Red Leafs rallied to score the final four points to earn the 3-2 victory.

"As always it was a tough battle with SFU. I liked our fight after going down two sets and we gave ourselves a chance to win," said WWU head coach Diane Flick-Williams. "There was a lot of great plays all around. It was definitely a match to take a nugget from and build off heading into the second half of the conference season next week."

The Vikings offense featured three players with double digits in kills, led by 18 from junior outside hitter Delaney Speer, 14 from senior outside hitter Devyn Oestreich and 13 by junior middle Emily Vossenkuhl (.333). Speer paced the team with 20.0 points adding an ace and a pair of blocks and recorded a double-double with 15 digs. Oestreich tallied her team-leading 12th double-double recording 19 digs. Vossenkuhl had seven blocks to finish with 17.0 points.

The setter tandem of junior Caroline Hansen (30 assists, 2 aces) and senior Adele Holland (16 kills, 16 digs) ran a balanced offense with five players recording nine-or-more kills. Freshman opposite Maren Stuber and senior Abby May each had nine kills.

SFU was led by 18 kills and 13 digs from Davida Hill, a 17-kill, 16-dig double-double by Megan Hawkins and a match-high eight blocks by Nina Kovacevic.

The Vikings (13-3, 7-2 GNAC) remain on the road next week opening the second half of the conference slate at Seattle Pacific on Thursday (7 pm) and Montana State Billings on Saturday (3 pm MT/2 pm PT). Both matches will stream live via the GNAC Network. The complete 2025 season schedule can be viewed at WWUVikings.com/25_VB.

Kills –   Speer (18), Oestreich (14), Vossenkuhl (13)

Aces – Oestreich (2), Hansen (2), Speer (1)

Blocks – Vossenkuhl (7), May (4), Zaddack (4)

Assists – Hansen (30), Holland (16), Claeys (6)

Digs – Oestreich (19), Holland (16), Speer (15)

Points – Speer (20.0), Vossenkuhl (17.0), Oestreich (17.0), May (11.0), Stuber (10.0)

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

Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2025 season:

Here is a look at the updated GNAC Volleyball standings and results following Friday's action with the first half of the conference slate wrapping up Saturday. Updated conference standings, results, schedule and statistics can be found online at GNACSports.com.

Here is a match-by-match look at the 2025 season with current results and the schedule: