BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The battle between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the country lived up to its billing Saturday night.
In a match that was tightly contested from start to finish, No. 2 nationally-ranked Western Washington outlasted No. 1 Cal State Bernardino in a five-set classic, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12, to win the NCAA Division II West Regional Championship in front of a record crowd of 1,641 inside Carver Gymnasium.
Hosting the NCAA Division II West Regional for the first time in program history, the Vikings went 3-0 in the tournament to win its third West Regional Championship in program history. WWU has played in the West Region title game each of the last four seasons, and added the regional trophy to the 2007 and 2015 seasons.
It was a classic grudge match between two teams that have become very familiar with each other. The match marked the fifth year in a row that WWU and Cal State San Bernardino have met in West Regional play and the third time in the regional final. It also marked the Vikings second five-set victory over the Coyotes this season, beating CSUSB on August 30 at the D2 West Region Classic.
The Vikings now move on to the NCAA Division II Championship in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the eight-team tournament will be part of the NCAA II Fall Festival. The volleyball competition is scheduled to begin Thursday, November 29 at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University.
Senior outside hitter Abby Phelps made the most of her final home match, finishing with a double-double of 22 kills and 16 digs. So did senior setter Brette Boesel, who also had a double-double with 65 assists and 12 digs. Junior outside hitter Kayleigh Harper connected for a career-high 26 kills and three blocks and hit .523 for the match. Senior libero Aubrey Stephens added 26 digs. The four Vikings were all named to the 12-player All-Regional team. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Gabby Gunterman (Lake Stevens, WA) added 15 kills on a .290 hitting percentage.
CSUSB sophomore outside hitter Alexis Cardoza led the Coyotes with a double-double of 24 kills and 14 digs to go along with four blocks. Junior middle blocker Sascha Dominique finished with 20 kills, 8 digs and 5 blocks while sophomore middle blocker Jalyn Hayes added 12 kills and 7 blocks. The Coyotes out-hit the Vikings .293 to .241 and out-blocked the Vikings 13-6.
Western Washington opened the match by taking a 16-10 lead in the first set on an attack error, but the Coyotes roared back to score five straight points to tie it at 18-18 on a block by Hayes and Amy Armstrong. The frame was tied again at 22-22 when three straight attack errors and a kill by Asia Clarke completed the Coyotes’ comeback.
The Vikings jumped out to a sizable lead again to open the second set, scoring six consecutive winners to go up 10-4 on Gunterman’s kill. San Bernardino again chipped away at the lead and came back to within 23-22 on a WWU attack error. Harper took charge from there, finishing with kills on the final two rallies to tie the match.
The third set was much tighter with neither building a lead of more than three points. The Vikings led 21-20 before extending the advantage to 24-21 on Gunterman’s kill. The Coyotes stayed in it, collecting a kill from Dominique to come back with two points before Harper once again closed it out for the Vikings.
Cal State San Bernardino took control early in the fourth set and never trailed in the frame. The Coyotes jumped out to the 6-3 lead on Clarke’s kill and extended the advantage to five, 11-6, on another Dominique slam. The Vikings managed to close within two points later in the set, 18-16, on a Michaela Hall kill, but came no closer as the Coyotes held to force the deciding fifth set.
Once in the fifth, Western Washington never trailed again. The Vikings opened up a 7-3 lead on a Phelps kill and extended that to a 13-8 advantage on Gunterman’s 15th kill of the night. With the season on the line, the Coyotes staved off three match points, before Phelps fittingly ended the match with her 22nd kill of the night and the final one on her home court.
SET 1 (CSUSB 25, WWU 23): CSUSB took the opening set 25-23, in an opening stanza that featured six tie scores and four lead changes. The Coyotes got off to a quick start with an early 5-1 lead, but the Vikings answered with a 7-3 run to level the set 8-8. The run continued for the Vikings building a 5-point lead at 17-12. CSUSB answered with their own run of 6-1 to tie 18-18. From that point on the Vikings and Coyotes were locked in a battle with ties at 19-19, 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22. CSUSB pulled ahead by two points, 24-22, on a pair of WWU attack errors and clinched the set with a kill from Asia Clarke. Phelps had 7 kills to lead the Vikings, while Cardoza led the Coyotes with 6.
SET 2 (WWU 25, CSUSB 22): WWU pulled away from an early 4-4 tie going on a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead. The Vikings extended the lead to as many as 8 points at 18-10 before the Coyotes began on the comeback trail. Chipping away at the 8-point deficit, CSUSB climbed to within one point at 23-22. After a Western timeout, Harper recorded back-to-back kills to clinch the second set and tie the match 1-1. Harper had 8 kills in the set to lead all players, while Dominique led the Coyotes with 6 kills.
SET 3 (WWU 25, CSUSB 22): The Vikings went up 2-1 in the match with 25-22 third-set victory, led by 6 kills from Harper and 5 from Phelps. In a set featuring seven ties and six lead changes, the Vikings used a 5-1 run to turn a one-point deficit at 15-14 into a three-point lead at 19-16. Bernardino battled back to pull to within one at 21-20, but Western used a 3-1 run to pull ahead 24-21 and Harper finished the set with a finesse shot that split the CSUSB defense.
SET 4 (CSUSB 25, WWU 21): WWU trailed throughout much of the fourth set, falling behind by as many as five points, but battled back to climb within two points several times. A late rally with a 3-0 WWU brought the set to 23-21, but CSUSB scored consecutive points out of its timeout to win 25-21, pushing the match to the deciding fifth set. Harper had 5 kills on a .429 hitting percentage in the set, while Cardoza led CSUSB with 5 kills.
SET 5 (WWU 15, CSUSB 12): The Vikings led from the start and never trailed in the deciding set. After building a 7-3 lead, CSUSB was not able to string together any runs as the Vikings kept pushing toward the 15th point. With the teams alternating points through the middle of the set, the Vikings had match point at 14-9. The Coyotes won three straight points to pull to within two points at 14-12, but Phelps ended the match with her 22nd kill of the night. Harper and Phelps each had 3 kills in the set, while Davenport contributed one of her 5 service aces.
