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Volleyball: Vikings Rally To Beat Western Oregon
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| Geary |
Outside hitter Marlayna Geary had a match-high 24 kills and a career-high 30 digs as Western Washington rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat Western Oregon 23-25, 21-15, 25-19, 25-20, 15-8 Saturday in a GNAC volleyball match at the New P.E. Gymnasium in Monmouth.
Geary's kill total equals a GNAC season-high. Kristyn Ross of Saint Martin's has had 24 kills twice this season.
The Vikings (6-2, 4-0) and Seattle Pacific (7-3, 2-0), which beat Northwest Nazarene, 25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-17, are now the only remaining unbeaten teams in conference play as the Wolves (4-4, 3-1) sustained their first loss against WWU.
Elsewhere Saturday, Alaska Anchorage (6-5, 2-1) swept past winless Alaska Fairbanks (0-11, 0-3) by 27-25, 25-21, 25-13 scores.
Central Washington (7-4, 2-2) and Saint Martin's (3-5, 2-2) also won by 3-0 margins. The Wildcats beat MSU Billings, 25-9, 25-15, 25-15 in 67 minutes.
The Saints outscored Simon Fraser, 25-20, 25-20, 25-18 as the Clan (0-8, 0-4) remained without a victory.
Middle blocker Emily Jepsen had 13 kills and five block assists and libero Samantha Hutchinson had a match-high 32 assists in Western Washington's victory.
“When we were sputtering, she was the light that we all followed to pull ourselves out of it,” said WWU coach Diane Flick of Geary's performance.
“Her stats were incredible, but her heart and composure say so much more. This is what Marlayna can do.”
WOU, which had a four-match winning streak snapped, was paced by Danielle Reese with 17 kills and 12 digs and Corynn Kopra with 13 kills and 20 digs. Samantha Ward also was in double figures with 16 kills.
WWU led by five points on two occasions in the first set (10-5 and 14-9) but the Wolves went on an 11-4 run to take a 20-18 lead and the Vikings never could get closer than one after that. Reese had seven kills for WOU.
The Vikings again took a 14-9 lead, but WOU came back and following five ties and a one-point deficit (21-20), the Wolves scored five straight points to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
In the third set, WWU used a 12-2 run for an 18-8 lead and never led by less than five points. WWU fell behind 18-15 in the fourth set before a 10-2 run on five kills by Geary tied the match at 2-2. The Vikings never trailed in the deciding fifth set.
Seattle Pacific got 17 kills from Lindsey Wodrich, 14 from Paige Hoffman and 12 from Nikki Lowell in its four-set victory.
SPU outhit Northwest Nazarene .220 to .142 as Shelby Swanson directed the offense, earning 52 assists. Anna Herold led the Falcon defense with 30 digs.
Swanson needs just 95 more assists to become the 21st member of the GNAC 2000 assist club.She currently ranks 26th on the GNAC all-time list.
Kaitlyn Tuholski had 11 kills and 11 assists and Becky Flores had four blocks for the Crusaders (4-4, 2-2).
Robyn Burton had 11 kills and five blocks in Alaska Anchorage's victory. The Seawolves were also led by Jackie Matthisen with eight kills and Miranda Doing with five blocks.
Keri Knight and Simone Chavous each had seven kills for Alaska Fairbanks, which were outhit by its state rivals .183 to .087.
Meg Ryan had 10 kills and Emmy Dolan and Erin Smith hit for .400 percentages in Central Washington's victory. Dolan didn't make an error in swinging at a .429 clip (6-0-14), while Smith hit for a .421 percentage (9-1-19).
CWU held Montana State Billings (6-5, 0-2) to a minus .011 percentage (17-18-95). Melissa Porter led the 'Jackets with six kills.
Katy Ferguson led Saint Martin's with nine kills and Kristyn Ross had eight kills and nine digs. SMU also got seven kills and three aces from Kristeen Juarez.
The Saints had a total of 14 services aces as Brianna Bautista and Halee Hernandez also had three. Cheryl Windhorst led Simon Fraser with seven kills.
Women's Soccer: Yturbe Leads NNU Past Saint Martin's
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| Yturbe |
In another GNAC afternoon game, Montana State Billings (4-1-1) and Western Oregon (2-2-2) battled to a 1-1 draw leaving both teams unbeaten (1-0-1) in conference play.
Seattle Pacific and Western Washington earned victories in evening games. The Falcons (5-1-0, 2-0-0) defeated Simon Fraser 2-0 to move into first-place in the GNAC with six points.
The Vikings (2-2-2, 1-1-0) leveled their records with a 1-0 home win against Central Washington.
Yturbe, who has a league-leading six goals, found the goal in both halves, first in the 40th minute when she dribbled in from the top of the box to beat SMU goalkeeper Gina Cardenas, and then again in the 64th minute, beating a Saint defender and pulling Cardenas out for the scoring strike.
"Leading 1-0 at the half, I thought we came out in the second and took care of the ball and played a much prettier second half," NNU head coach Jamie Lindvall said.
Crusader goalkeeper Tanya Zickefoose had seven saves in carving out the shutout, overcoming an 11-10 shot deficit and a 10-4 Saint Martin's corner kick advantage.
MSUB and Western Oregon traded first-half goals in their contest. Kymberly Witmer gave WOU the early lead in the 12th minute.
MSUB, however, got the equalizer at 35:33 as Heidi Greenback converted a goal off an assist from Whitney Siler.
WOU had twice as many shots (14-7) in the contest. MSUB goalie Danielle Gordon had seven saves and WOU keeper Brittney Rigtrup had three.
Megan Lindsay and Taylor Sawyer each scored goals in Seattle Pacific's win at Terry Fox Field in Burnaby.
Goalkeeper Natalie Harold had two saves on just six total shots by Simon Fraser (1-3-0, 0-2-0) to earn her third shutout of the season.
SPU has reeled off four consecutive wins, keeping opponents off the board for the past 295 minutes, 54 seconds, dating back to a 6-1 home rout of Notre Dame de Namur on Sept. 8.
Lindsay snapped a scoreless tie less than four minutes into the second half when she found the goal with an unassisted strike for the 18th goal of her career.
Sawyer padded the lead to 2-0 midway through the 61st minute, scoring for the fifth time in her SPU career. That goal also was unassisted.
The Falcons more than doubled the Clan's six-shot total, finishing with 15. Of those, 12 were on frame: the two that went in, seven that were saved by Simon Fraser goalkeeper Amelia Ng, and three more that were cleared away by Clan defensive players.
Kelly Cates scored the game's lone goal in Western Washington's victory. It was the first goal for the senior midfielder since she notched one goal in her freshman season playing at Southern Oregon,
Cates, who also wore the captain's armband for the first time in place of injured defender Alicia Patten, scored in the 52nd minute, when her first-touch strike from 25 yards out floated into the upper left corner of the net.
“We had some people out of the lineup and needed others to step up,” said WWU coach Travis Connell . “Cates was captain tonight, she played well all around and also scored the goal.”
The Vikings had a massive 24-2 advantage in shots, including a 16-1 margin in the second half.
Central (2-2-2, 1-1-0) played most of the game with just 10 players as Hilary Franks received a red card in the 17th minute for fouling Megan Chapin as the last defender on a possible breakaway.
But the Wildcats still forged a possible chance to tie in the 88th minute. Forward Amy Pate rose in traffic to meet a cross from Carson McKole, but her firm header from 10 yards out was right at Western goalkeeper Jamie Arthurs.
Men's Soccer: Saints Win In Overtime To Improve To 2-0
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| Nixon |
Seattle Pacific (3-1-1) joined Saint Martin's (3-3-0) at the top of the GNAC conference standings by defeating Montana State Billings 2-0. Both teams are 2-0 in the conference.
Nixon's goal was his second of the game. He also scored the opening goal of the game in just the second minute and Dylan Gaydosh put the Saint's ahead 2-0 with a goal in the 21st minute.
Down 2-0 at halftime, NNU rallied to force overtime getting second-half goals from Ben Mangeac and Sal Sanchez in the 51st and 81st minutes.
Alex Mangeac and Sanchez had assists on the first goal and Christian Adamson was credited with an assist on the second as Sanchez scored from 30 yards out.
SMU finished the contest with a 20-18 advantage in shots. JJ Olson had eight saves for SMU and Zander Engeman had seven saves for NNU.
Kodiac Gamble notched his first collegiate goal in the first half and Richie Evoy scored in the final minute in Seattle Pacific's win at Interbay Stadium.
Gamble opened the scoring at 42:50 from just inside the 6-yard box. Evan Robicheau served a 30-yard free kick toward the left post that Gamble headed into the upper right corner.
The Falcons played with a man advantage for the final 12:48 of the game after MSUB's Blair Stevenson was ejected after receiving his second yellow card.
SPU capitalized on that advantage with an insurance goal at 89:23. Evoy ran onto a long through pass from Kyle Smurdon and flipped a 16-yard shot over the goalkeeper that carried under the crossbar.
SPU goalkeeper Zach Johnson posted his third shutout and saved three shots. Eoin Hurley had five saves for the Yellowjackets (2-4-0, 0-2-0), who were outshot 21-7.
| GNAC News |
