RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Western Washington University junior outside hitter Abby Phelps recorded a career-high 28 kills to lead the No. 2-seed Vikings to a 3-1 win over No. 7-seed Alaska Anchorage Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Championships West Regional at Van Dyne Gymnasium on the California Baptist University campus.
The Vikings improved to 26-3 overall and extended their winning streak to 19 consecutive matches with the 26-24, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18 victory over their Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Seawolves. Alaska Anchorage ends its season with a 19-11 record after falling to WWU for the third time this season.
With the win, the GNAC champion Vikings move on to the semifinal round of the West Regional and will face No. 3-seed Northwest Nazarene in a rematch of the top two teams in the GNAC from the regular season. NNU beat Central Washington 3-2 in the first quarterfinal match
“I thought we did a good job of staying patient and not getting too overhyped for this match,” said head coach Diane Flick-Williams. “When you reach this level of play you are a little more nervous and amped up, but I thought we did a good job of staying within ourselves and taking it one point at a time. Hats off to Anchorage, who is a great rival of ours and we have tremendous respect for their program, the players and the coaching. Today was another great battle between the two programs.”
Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) shattered her previous career-high of 19 kills achieved seven times with the 28-kill performance, fourth-best in WWU history. The GNAC Player of the Year added 13 digs for her 23rd double-double of the season, and eighth consecutive performance with double-digits in kills and digs. She also had one service ace and 3 block assists for a career-high 30.5 points.
“Abby was our rock tonight, much like she has been all year long,” said Flick-Williams. “I would take 100 of her if I could, but the best part about her is that she gives all the credit to her teammates. She is the ultimate team player and has put in so much hard work to get to this point.”
Junior middle blocker Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) added 12 kills on a .346 hitting percentage, and also contributed 4 blocks. Senior outside hitter Arielle Turner (Leavenworth, WA/Cascade) finished with 11 kills and sophomore middle blocker Joslyn Bopray (Spokane, WA/Lewis & Clark) recorded a match-high 6 blocks. Junior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) had a double-double of 55 assists and 11 digs. Junior libero Aubrey Buckner (Colville, WA) led the defense with 30 digs.
The Seawolves were led by three-time First Team All-GNAC selection outside hitter Leah Swiss, who turned in a double-double with 17 kills and 14 digs. Outside hitter Chrisalyn Johnson also had a double-double with 16 kills and 16 digs, while GNAC Freshman of the Year Casey Davenport recorded 45 assists and 16 digs.
The Vikings took the opening set 26-24, fighting through 14 tie scores to go up 1-0 in the match. WWU trailed 12-10 following a 4-0 Anchorage run, but battled back to tie the score at 14-14. Western pulled ahead by as many as 3 points at 23-20 late in the set, but UAA answered with a 3-0 run to tie the set at 23-23 and 24-24. The Vikings completed the opening-set win on a kill by Phelps, her seventh of the set to lead all players.
WWU led by as many as three points early in the second set at 9-6, but UAA used an 8-2 run to forge ahead 14-11. The Vikings tied the set at 14-14 going on a 3-0 run, but the Seawolves pulled back ahead 22-19. Western used a 4-1 run to pull even at 23-23, but the Anchorage clinched the set on back-to-back kills by Johnson.
Western trailed early in the third set 6-2, but erased the four-point deficit going on a 4-0 run to pull even at 6-6. After trailing again at 8-6, the Vikings rattled off a 10-2 run to pull ahead 16-10, including a 6-0 run after the set was tied at 10-10. The Seawolves stalled the momentum coming out of their timeout on a 4-1 run to pull to within three points at 17-14, but WWU closed out the set winning 8 of the last 12 points for the 25-18 victory. Phelps added 7 more kills, with Aubrey Buckner notching 13 digs.
The Vikings jumped out to an early lead to open the fourth set, and grew the advantage to as many as six points at 16-10. Anchorage rallied with a 4-0 run to pull to within two points at 16-14, but WWU answered with a 4-0 spurt out of its timeout to rebuild the six-point lead at 20-14 and finished off the match with a 25-18 win.
Game Notes: The 19-match winning streak is 4th-longest in program history, trailing only streaks of 24 (2003), 21 (2007) and 20 (2001)…the 28 kills by Phelps are 4th-most in a match in WWU history and 2nd-most during the rally-scoring era (since 2001)…most kills in a match by a Viking since Marlayna Geary had 29 vs. Northwest Nazarene in 2009…Phelps also tallied a career high 30.5 points (Kills + Aces + Block Solo + ½ block assist) tie WWU’s rally-scoring record for a match with Jamie Anderson (8/25/07 vs. Cal Baptist).
