PITTSBURGH, Penn. – For the second time in program history, the Western Washington University volleyball team will play for the NCAA Division II National Championship.
A dominating program through the years with seven consecutive NCAA II tournament appearances, the Vikings broke through with a national semifinal 3-1 victory over Lewis University on Friday at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the Duquesne University campus.
Making its second national tournament appearance (Elite 8) in the last four seasons, the Vikings will now play in the national title match on Saturday at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT against the winner of the Washburn/Tampa match that is currently being played.
WWU was led 15 kills on a .520 hitting percentage by junior middle Kayleigh Harper (Oak Harbor, WA) and a career-high 13 kills from sophomore outside hitter Alison Davenport (Auburn, WA/Auburn Mountainview). Davenport added 10 digs and contributed 2 blocks to finish with her second career double-double.
Senior middle Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) added 11 kills and 2 blocks and First Team All-American Abby Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) recorded 9 kills and a match-high 27 digs. Senior libero Aubrey Stephens (Colville, WA) added 25 digs and junior defensive specialist Mae Thungc (Kent, WA/Kentridge) contributed 21 digs. Senior serving specialist Taylor Lyall (Bellingham, WA/Sehome) recorded four of WWU’s five service aces, and also had 5 digs.
Senior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) quarterbacked the offense with 51 assists, distributing the ball to five players with 6-or-more kills. She added 7 digs, 2 blocks and one service ace.
After dropping the first set 25-22, the Vikings stormed back with convincing wins of 25-13, 25-17, 25-16 to advance to the national championship match. After hitting just .147 in a first-set loss, the Vikings rebounded to finish with a .247 hitting percentage in the match, which included hitting .344 in the second set and .341 in the fourth set. The Vikings recorded 99 digs in the four-set victory and out-blocked the Flyers 6.0-3.0 in the match.
Colleen Wilhelm led Lewis offensively with 14 kills and a .308 hitting percentage as the Flyers finished the match with a .258 team hitting percentage. Elizabeth Hyland finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 14 digs and Caroline Stefanon added 10 kills. Abby Becker contributed a double-double of 41 assists and 23 digs. Lewis finished its season with a 29-8 record, advancing to the national semifinal after winning the Midwest Regional title.
UP NEXT
The Vikings will play for the NCAA Division II Volleyball National Championship on Saturday at 12 pm PT against either Tampa or Washburn…the match will stream live via the Division II Volleyball homepage at NCAA.com.
