BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University junior middle Kayleigh Harper had 15 kills and 4 blocks to lead the No. 6 nationally-ranked Vikings to a 3-0 sweep over Northwest Nazarene Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball action on WECU Court in Carver Gym.
WWU improved to 17-3 overall and remains perfect in GNAC play at 12-0 with the 25-15, 25-13, 25-19 victory over the Nighthawks. The defending GNAC champions have won 17 consecutive matches overall and 30 consecutive GNAC contests dating back to last season. NNU drops to 4-15 overall and 4-8 in league play.
Harper (Oak Harbor, WA) dominated the middle with 15 kills on 25 attacks, and did not record an error while hitting .600 in the match. She also had 4 total blocks, including 2 solo blocks, for a match-high 18.0 points.
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Gabby Gunterman (Lake Stevens, WA) put the finishing touches on a solid performance during the week, recording 10 kills with a .316 hitting percentage. In the sweeps over NNU and Central Washington, Gunterman combined to average 4.00 kills per set (24 kills) with a .419 hitting percentage.
Senior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) led the balanced offensive attack distributing 39 assists.
“It was a great balanced effort tonight, which starts with our setter (Brette Boesel),” said 19th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams. “Our hitting percentage from both tonight and Thursday (.349 combined for the week) are attributed to good first balls by our defense, smart setting from Brette and hitters working hard between contacts. It was a great team effort tonight.”
Senior outside hitter Abby Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) fell two kills short of another double-double, but led all players with 16 digs, and also had 8 kills. In 20 matches this season, the reigning GNAC Player of the Year and First Team All-American has 16 double-doubles, and leads the conference averaging 4.06 kills per set.
Senior libero Aubrey Stephens (Colville, WA) added 15 digs and sophomore outside Alison Davenport (Auburn, WA/Auburn Mountainview) contributed 12 digs. The Vikings held a 60-47 edge over NNU in digs in the match.
NNU was led by 11 kills from senior outside hitter Cami Heninger and 12 digs from senior libero Shayli Siegfreid.
The Vikings (17-3, 12-0 GNAC) return to the road next week with the annual trip to Alaska, facing second-place Alaska Anchorage (16-4, 9-3) on Thursday (7 pm AKT/8 pm PT) and then continues north to battle Alaska Fairbanks (9-10, 7-5) on Saturday (1 pm AKT/2 pm PT). Both matches will be streamed live and feature live statistical updates at GNAC.tv.
SET 1 (WWU 25, NNU 15): The Vikings opened the match with a 25-15 first-set victory, with the middle combination of Harper (5 kills, .625) and Hall (4 kills, .333) leading the way. WWU’s defense recorded 25 digs, led by 8 from Stephens and 7 from Phelps to fuel several rallies. WWU went on a 5-1 run to take a 10-4 lead, forcing NNU to call its first timeout. The Nighthawks would close the gap to 5 points at 14-9, but WWU went on a 5-1 run to pull ahead 19-10.
SET 2 (WWU 25, NNU 13): The Vikings pulled away from a 4-4 tie going on a 7-2 run to take a 11-6 lead. NNU closed the gap to 3 points at 13-10, but WWU won the next three points to force the Nighthawks to call their first timeout with WWU leading 16-10. Western closed out the set going on a 9-3 run to secure the 25-13 second-set victory to go up 2-0. Phelps led the way with 5 kills on a .625 hitting percentage in the set, followed by 4 kills apiece from Gunterman and Harper.
SET 3 (WWU 25, NNU 19): The Vikings closed out the sweep with a 25-19 victory in the third set. WWU pulled away from an 8-8 tie going on a 4-0 run, and grew the lead to 5 points at 18-13 with an extended 10-5 spurt. The Nighthawks would close the gap to 4 points at 21-17, but the Vikings 4 of the last 6 points to put the match away. Harper had 6 of her match-high 15 kills in the final set, with Phelps and Gunterman each contributing 3 apiece.
MATCH NOTES…WWU extended winning streaks of 17 matches (overall), 25 straight in Carver Gym (26 consecutive home matches) and 30 consecutive GNAC victories…during the 17-match winning streak, the Vikings have won 51 of 60 sets and recorded 11 3-0 sweeps…WWU has swept each of its last five victories…17 consecutive wins is 6th-most in program history…Abby Phelps increased her school-record kills total to 1,439, three short of joining the GNAC all-time top 5 (record is 1,513)…WWU recorded the season sweep over NNU to improve to 39-9 all-time in the series (6-4 in last 10 matches)…first season sweep over NNU since 2013…current 4-match win streak vs. NNU.
