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Volleyball: Vikings, Seawolves Sweep To Stay Tied
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| Geary |
Marlayna Geary had 17 kills and 19 digs and Western Washington held on to a share of first place in the GNAC with a 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 win Thursday at Montana State Billings.
Alaska Anchorage (11-5, 7-1) stayed even with the Vikings (9-3, 7-1) by sweeping Central Washington, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 at Nicholson Pavilion. It was UAA's first sweep of the Wildcats in nearly 30 years.
Elsewhere in the GNAC Seattle Pacific and Northwest Nazarene earned home victories.
The Falcons (11-4, 6-1) remained one-half match back of the co-leaders with a 25-13, 25-18, 25-11, home sweep of Simon Fraser.
Meanwhile Northwest Nazarene (8-5, 5-3) defeated Alaska Fairbanks, 25-20, 25-15, 18-25, 25-17 to remain two matches back of UAA and WWU, which plays at Seattle Pacific Saturday. The Crusaders are tied for fourth with Western Oregon, which was idle.
Geary was joined in double figures by Emily Jepsen who had 12 kills and hit for a .458 percentage as she was charged with just one miscue in WWU's victory. Jepsen also had seven blocks, including three solos to account for 17 points.
Samantha Hutchinson led WWU defensively with 25 digs. Emily Boerger had four blocks.
Melissa Porter led MSUB (8-8, 2-5) with eight kills. Erin Compton was credited with a match-high 27 digs.
Jackie Matthisen had 18 kills and Nikki Viotto had 10 as Alaska Anchorage, which has won seven straight, earned its first 3-0 decision against the Wildcats (9-7, 3-5) since Nov. 12, 1981. That match was played in Anchorage.
“Jackie was really at the top of her game tonight,” said UAA head coach Chris Green. “She was able to see the openings in the defense and hit it effectively off their block.
"Overall, I'm proud of the way our team responded in a tough environment where we had our worst match (losing 3-0) a year ago.”
UAA won even though the Wildcats held Seawolf middle hitter Robyn Burton, who came into the match with one of the best hitting percentages in GNAC history (.401), to just three kills and a .071 percentage. Burton, however, did have five blocks.
Jordan Offutt paced CWU with 12 kills, while Meg Ryan had 10. Kaely Kight had 16 digs in the match that featured 40 ties and 15 lead changes.
Lindsey Wodrich and Paige Hoffman each had 10 kills and Seattle Pacific held Simon Fraser (0-12, 0-8) to a minus .023 percentage in its win.
Hoffman's 10 came in just 14 tries as she finished with a .643 percentage. Defensively, Anna Herold had 16 digs and Angie Pricco had four blocks to pace SPU.
Haley Abbott had a career-high 21 kills and six blocks to lead Northwest Nazarene to its victory over Alaska Fairbanks.
Abbott made only three errors in 42 swings finishing with a .429 percentage, twice the Crusaders' team percentage of .211, which was twice UAF's percentage of .101.
NNU was also led by Reisa Fessler with nine kills. Michelle Terpstra had 26 assists and 14 digs. Kailey Trautmann and Taylor Roberts had 20 and 18 digs, respectively.
Reilly Stevens paced the Nanooks (2-14, 2-6) with 12 kills and 14 digs. Casey Tidwell added nine kills and a team-best three blocks.
Men's Soccer: Seattle Pacific Wins On Free Kick
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| Williams |
Grand Canyon (7-2-1), which is ranked 16th nationally, overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat Western Washington 2-1 in the second game and stretch their unbeaten streak to five (4-0-1).
Seattle Pacific (7-2-1) has now won seven of its last eight outings losing only to nationally third-ranked Simon Fraser. Cal Baptist (6-4) lost for just the second time in eight games.
Williams was fouled on the right side, six yards outside the box. His free kick curved around the Lancers wall and into the right side of the goal at 8:49. That was his second goal of the season and the seventh of Williams' career.
SPU goalkeeper Zach Johnson ensured that the lone goal stood as the game-winner by stopping three shots en route to his fifth shutout. Joey Pacheco had six saves for GCU. Both teams attempted nine shots.
Johnson's only save in the first half was his best as he dove to his right to push away a dangerous 17th-minute attempt by Tyler Aagard.
"Zach came up very big for us and our defense was good," said SPU coach Mark Collings. "Cal Baptist is a very, very good soccer team that knocks the ball around extremely well.
"They caused us a lot of problems. Fortunately we were there to get on some loose balls and were able to clear some balls out.
"We were able to let the one goal stand up. I'm still not completely satisfied with where we are defensively, but it's hard to complain too much when you get a shutout."
Midfielder Kellan Brown gave Western Washington a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute against Grand Canyon, scoring his team-leading fourth goal of the season on a penalty kick.
Less than four minutes later, the Antelopes tied the game at 1-1 as Mitchell Garcia scored from six yards off a rebound of a shot by Lucas Mazier.
In the 67th minute, Saeed Robinson put the Antelopes, who outshot the Vikings 15-5 and had a 6-3 corner kick advantage, in front for good with his 12th goal of the campaign. Robinson entered the game tied for second nationally in goals.
“We showed a lot of character today and played well,” said WWU coach Travis Connell . “I'm proud of their performance. This is a difficult place to play and we played well enough to get a result here. It didn't go our way this time, but if we can play like this every game we should do fine.”
Crusaders, Yellowjackets Post One-Goal Victories
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| Sanchez |
In the second game of the doubleheader which was shortened by 8 1/2 minutes because of lightening, Montana State Billings edged Mary 1-0.
Sanchez' goal gave NNU a 2-0 lead and ended up as the game-winner after Sioux Falls' Amare Eyayou converted a penalty kick at 75:50.
NNU (5-5-1), which had lost five of its last six games, scored its first goal at 26:14 as Jose Oregon took a pass from Benny Mangeac and shot the ball from the left side into the upper right side of the net.
Shots were even at 10-10 in the contest. NNU keeper Zander Engeman had five saves and Kyle Simons had one for the South Dakota school.
Isaac Kerr scored on a header in the 23rd minute in MSUB's victory.
“It was a good win for us in difficult conditions,” said MSUB head coach Dan McNally. “We played really well in the first half and were able to create a lot of chances.
"We really should've been up two or three goals going into the half, but we didn't convert.
"I thought the second half was extremely tough because of the strong winds. Mary also put a lot of long balls into the 18, but we did well to defend the ball and keep it out of goal. Isaac played very well tonight with the goal, and his defensive play was superb.”
The Jackets controlled much of the first half and broke through on the board when Clifton Thomas sent a corner kick into the box where Kerr got his head on it and put the ball past Mary keeper Michael Frenzel at 22:08.
Strong winds and driving rain started to move into the area late in the second half.
The referees, coaches and school officials met, deciding to end the match due to the lightening in the area after a 50-minute delay.
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