Michaela Hall had 9 kills and 7 blocks in the Vikings 3-0 sweep at Concordia. PHOTO: WWU Athletics
Vikings Sweep Concordia for 14th Straight Victory
October 5, 2018
PORTLAND, Ore. – The No. 7 nationally-ranked Western Washington University volleyball team extended its winning streak to 14 consecutive matches and improved to 9-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 sweep over Concordia University Thursday night on LCEF Court. Game scores were 25-8, 25-10, 25-14 in favor of the Vikings.
WWU improved to 14-3 overall and remains perfect at 9-0 in GNAC play, along atop the conference standings. Concordia dropped its fourth straight match to fall to 7-9 overall and 4-5 in league play.
“It was a great team effort tonight,” said 19th-year head coach Diane Flick-Williams. “Taylor (Lyall) came in and had great command of her serve. She really set the tone from the service line.”
Senior outside hitter Abby Phelps (Manson, WA/Chelan) led the Vikings with 13 kills to reach the 1,400 mark for her career, moving into 6th place in GNAC history. Phelps set WWU’s all-time career record for kills last week. She fell one dig short of her 15th double-double of the season. Phelps also set WWU’s all-time record for career points scored (kills+aces+solo blocks+½ block assists) with 1,600.
Senior middle Michaela Hall (Centralia, WA) added 9 kills on a .400 hitting percentage, and tallied 7 blocks. Junior middleKayleigh Harper (Oak Harbor, WA) contributed 8 kills and 4 blocks (3 solo).
Senior Taylor Lyall (Bellingham, WA/Sehome) recorded a career-high 6 service aces, leading the Vikings to a season-high-tying 8 aces in the match. Senior setter Brette Boesel (Brewster, WA) recorded her 100th career service ace in the match, also adding 40 assists.
Senior libero Aubrey Stephens (Colville, WA) led all players with a match-high 24 digs, moving into 13th place in the WWU record book with 1,027 career digs.
WWU combined for a season-high .351 attack percentage, making only 8 errors on 97 attacks in the match.
“I thought our defense, both block and defenders, had one of their best outings of the year,” added Flick-Williams. “It was great to see their work this week pay off.”
Concordia was led by 5 kills from Livia Strandberg and 4 each from Tori Johnson and Jessica Wheeler.
The Vikings (14-3, 9-0 GNAC) continue its Oregon road trip on Saturday with a GNAC match vs. Western Oregon in Monmouth starting at 7 pm. The match vs. the Wolves will be streamed live and feature live stats at GNAC.tv. WWU returns home next week hosting a pair of key conference matches, with rival Central Washington (Thursday, 7 pm) and Northwest Nazarene (Saturday, 7 pm) visiting Carver Gym.
MATCH NOTES…WWU extended winning streaks of 14 matches (overall) and 27 consecutive GNAC matches…during the 14-match winning streak, the Vikings have won 42 of 51 sets…14-match winning streak is 7th-longest in program history…the Vikings improved to 11-0 all-time vs. Concordia, including a 7-0 GNAC mark…Abby Phelps recorded a match-high 16.0 points, giving her 1,600.0 for her career to set the WWU record (Meaghan Evoy, 1,599.5, 2001-04)…Phelps is the 6th player in GNAC history to reach the 1,600-point mark in a career…Michaela Hall (379) and Kayleigh Harper (377) and are 8th and 9th in program history in total blocks.
FOLLOW THE VIKS…Fans can follow WWU Volleyball online at WWUVikings.com/VB, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUVolleyball), Instagram (@WWUVB) and Facebook (@WWUVolleyball).
WWU LEADERS…
Kills - Phelps (13), Hall (9), Harper (8)
Aces - Lyall (6), Boesel (1), Phelps (1)
Blocks - Hall (7), Harper (4), Phelps (3)
Assists - Boesel (40), Phelps (1), Hall (1)
Digs - Stephens (24), Thungc (11), Phelps (9)
-- @WWUVolleyball --
