Logo courtesy of WWU Athletics
WWU Women's Soccer & Volleyball Take Center Stage Thursday
November 8, 2018
The Western Washington University women's soccer team will open play in the NCAA Tournament on the same day the WWU Volleyball squad begins their final week of the regular season.
Vikings Head to Portland For Seventh Consecutive
NCAA Championships Appearance
the No. 16 nationally-ranked and GNAC regular-season champion Western Washington University women's soccer team (16-3-1) is making their seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Championship. the Vikings, the No. 3 seed in the West Region and will play Sonoma State in the first round of the tournament on Thursday at 11 am in Portland, Oregon.
For the seventh consecutive season, and 9th time in program history, in eight previous appearances in the NCAA Championships (2005, 2008, 2012-17), the Vikings have compiled a 15-7 record and won the 2016 national championship. WWU has played for the West Region championship three consecutive, and five of the last six, seasons.
Western did not face Sonoma State this season. Their last meeting was in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament with WWU recording a 2-0 victory. The Vikings are 7-8-1 all-time vs. Sonoma State, but are 6-0-1 over the last 7 meetings dating back to 2001.
HOW TO FOLLOW…the three games at the NCAA Championships Portland Regional will stream live and feature live stats atGNAC.tv…in addition to being available online, all conference matches are available via the GNAC channel on Roku, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.
VIKINGS HOLD TOP SPOT IN FINAL NCAA II WEST REGION RANKINGS
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – With just two regular-season matches remaining and the NCAA Division II Championships nearing, the Western Washington University volleyball program remains No. 1 in Wednesday’s final version of the West Region rankings.
WWU has a current 23-match winning streak, clinched the GNAC Championship for a second consecutive season and will be making its seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship. The field of 64 teams will be announced Sunday night at 7 pm (10 pm ET) on NCAA.com, unveiling the eight-team West Regional. The No. 1 seed for each of the eight regions will be announced one hour prior on via NCAA Division II’s twitter feed @NCAADII.
The West Region rankings are the deciding factor that will determine the eight-team NCAA II West Regional Tournament that will be played at a campus site November 15-17. The GNAC (WWU) and PacWest (Azusa Pacific) regular-season champions and CCAA Tournament champion receive automatic berths to the NCAA Tournament, along with the next five highest ranked teams at the conclusion of the season.
The Vikings have been ranked No. 2 in the nation in each of the last three AVCA Division II Coaches Polls, extending a streak of consecutive weeks to appear in the national rankings to 92 consecutive weeks. If WWU holds on to the No. 1 regional ranking through the end of the regular season, it will mark the first time the school has hosted the NCAA II Volleyball West Regional, and the fourth time in the last five years a GNAC school will host a regional (NNU-2014, UAA-2015-16).
WWU (23-3, 18-0 GNAC) is listed ahead of No. 2 Cal State San Bernardino (23-2) and No. 3 Cal State Los Angeles (21-4). WWU beat Cal State San Bernardino in five sets (22-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 15-11) earlier this season at the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase in Azusa, California. GNAC member schools Central Washington (No. 6) and Alaska Anchorage (No. 10) are also listed among the top 10 teams in the West Region rankings.
The Vikings close out the regular season this week traveling to play Saint Martin’s on Thursday in Lacey (7 pm) and Seattle Pacific on Saturday (4 pm).
FOLLOW THE VIKINGS
Fans can follow WWU Volleyball online at WWUVikings.com/VB, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUVolleyball), Instagram (@WWUVB) and Facebook (@WWUVolleyball).
