GNAC Sports

Vikings Fall To Concordia In Title Match (12/1/07)


Castro

The longest post-season run in school history ended Saturday for Western Washington as it fell 30-26, 23-30, 30-19, 31-29, to Concordia (St. Paul) in the title match of the NCAA Division II national volleyball tournament at Lee Arena in Topeka, Kans.

The 15th-ranked Vikings finished with a 26-5 record as they had a 21-match victory string snapped. That was three short of the school record.

“Who could ask for more of a team?” said WWU coach Diane Flick (8th year, 175-47).

“Right now it's hard, but this team is special in every single way that you can think of. They played every game with heart. They did it every day in practice and knew that it would pay off in the end. I'm so proud of them. This is a very special group of people and I'm honored to be their coach.”

Concordia, rated No.2 nationally, finished its campaign at 37-4. The Golden Bears were led by outside hitter Maria Steinhagen with a match-high 26 kills on 46 attempts with just three errors for a .500 hitting percentage. She also had five blocks.

“We were looking across the net at someone that was very similar to us,” Flick said. “It could have gone either way with a point here or there. A couple times we got a little tight and we ran into a buzz saw with Steinhagen who hit outstanding.

"We just weren't able to contain her enough. But leading 29-28 in Game 4 with a game-point serve, we had our chances.”

It was the second national title match for the Golden Bears, who fell to North Alabama in 2003.

Outside hitter Emily Castro had a team-high 19 kills and 15 digs for Western.

Middle blockers Angie Alvord (16 kills, 4 blocks) and Tiana Roma (12 kills) combined for 28 kills for the Vikings.

Libero Courtney Schneider had a match-high 36 digs, while outside hitter Jaime Anderson added nine kills and 15 digs. Setter Katie Robinson finished with 52 assists and nine digs.

Schneider, who set a NCAA II tournament record with 44 digs in the Washburn victory, finished her career with 2,695 digs, which ranks third in NCAA Division II history.

The national digs per game leader for the second straight year with a 7.74 average, Schneider's career average of 7.00 is a national record, nearly one dig per game better than the previous mark.

Alvord, Anderson, Robinson and Schneider were all named to the all-tournament team. It was the last career match for Anderson, Castro, Robinson and Schneider.

Whitney Meierotto had 10 kills and 25 digs for Concordia. Kate Bennett added 18 kills and Emily Palkert 15. Mary Slinger had 35 digs and Maggie McNamara had 17 digs and a match-high six blocks.

The Vikings, who were making their first Elite Eight appearance in history, got to the final with a sweep of Dowling, N.Y. in the quarterfinals and a four-game triumph over host and No.4-ranked Washburn in the semifinals before a crowd of 2,015.

It is the highest finish in school history for Western, which placed third at the NAIA National Tournament in 1990.

Game 1 was tied at 13-13 before Concordia gradually pulled away to take a 27-19 lead. Western fought back to within three (28-25) before the Golden Bears put it away.

The Vikings got out to a 10-3 lead in Game 2 and did not allow Concordia to get closer than four as they tied the match at one game each.

Western was down by just two (18-16) in the third game, but the Golden Bears scored 12 of the last 15 points.

There were 19 ties in Game 4. Western had a chance to extend the match to five games, holding a 29-28 lead, but Concordia scored the next three points to claim the championship.

“We made a little bit of an adjustment on how we were going to stop their middles and we did that,” said Flick. “But what we needed to do was get a couple of points here or there and we just couldn't seem to get that one little break.”

Vikings To Play For NCAA National Title (11/30/07)

Libero Courtney Schneider set a tournament record with 44 digs and outside hitters Jaime Anderson and Emily Castro combined for 39 kills as Western Washington defeated host Washburn 23-30, 30-23, 30-26, 30-20, in a semifinal match Friday at the NCAA Division II National Volleyball championships.

The Vikings will meet No.2-rated Concordia - Saint Paul (36-4) for the national championship Saturday at 5 p.m. PST. The match will be video streamed live on CSTV.com.

“We are playing each game and each match in the moment,” said Viking coach Diane Flick (8th year, 175-46). “Concordia plays loose, has good ball control, plays good defense and just swings free, and I think that's basically what we do. It's going to be a battle of that same kind of mentality, and I believe we're ready for it.”

Western, which is making its first Elite Eight appearance, improved to 26-4 with its 21st straight victory, the second-longest winning streak in school history. The Vikings, who are ranked 15th nationally, have lost just seven games during that stretch, sweeping 15 matches.

The semifinal was played in front of 2,015 fans at Washburn's Lee Arena, the most ever to watch a Vikings' match.

“We played against a very good team, in front of a very knowledgeable and excited crowd, and amidst it all we played with a lot of composure and a lot of heart,” Flick said. “This has been a two-year project, and these guys have seen it through and I'm just very proud of them.”

It was the first loss in 18 home matches this season for Washburn, ranked No.4 nationally, which finished its season 38-4.

The Lady Blues were coming off a five-game quarterfinal victory over defending champion and No.1-ranked Tampa, Fla.

Anderson had a team-high 20 kills and 11 digs, and Castro added 19 kills and 16 digs. Middle blocker Angie Alvord had 14 kills and a match-high five blocks and Tiana Roma had 12 kills.

Allison Gotz had 17 digs and setter Katie Robinson contributed 63 assists.

Megan Amundson replaced Marissa Hill, who suffered a knee injury in Thursday's quarterfinal, in the rotation and responded with eight kills. Hill was involved in pre-game activities, but aggravated the injury and was unable to play.

“We truly believe in the concept that volleyball is a team sport,” said Flick. “That's why when Marissa went down in warm-up, we didn't panic that she wasn't going to play, but instead focused on that we had to do it for her and do it together.

"It was a complete team effort and that's what has made us successful this year.”

Western had a .229 attack percentage to .187 for the Lady Blues, who were led by Tessa Jones with a match-high 21 kills and by Monica Miesner, who had 13 kills and 24 digs.

Western jumped to an 11-7 lead in the opening game as Castro had seven kills in her first seven attempts. But Washburn responded with a 12-1 run to take a 19-12 lead, and never led by less than four points after that.

“We felt that we let the excitement of the moment and the crowd get to us in the first game, which caused us to make too many errors,” Flick said. “The good thing about that is that it was in our control, so we were able to cut down on our errors and make them play more balls.”

The Vikings led wire-to-wire in the second game. Anderson and Alvord each had six kills in the game, with Alvord getting three as Western grabbed an early 4-1 lead and never looked back. Washburn was never closer than five points in the last half of the game.

The third game featured six ties. Western held a 10-5 lead at one point, but Washburn rallied, using a run of five straight points, three of them kills by Jones, to take an 18-15 advantage. The score was tied for a final time at 21-21, but a kill by Amundson and an ace from Gotz put the Vikings in front for good.

In the final game, Western was up by just two, 20-18, but four straight kills by Anderson and a pair of service aces by Schneider gave the Vikings a 26-18 lead, effectively putting the match away. Anderson had nine kills in the contest.

The victory assures Western of the highest finish in school history. The Vikings placed third at the NAIA National Tournament in 1990. In that tourney, they lost in the national semifinals to host BYU-Hawaii before a crowd of 1,500, the previous high to see a Western volleyball match.

It will be the second national championship game for Concordia, which fell to North Alabama in 2003. The Golden Bears advanced with a four-game semifinal win over West Texas A&M.

Schneider broke the tourney match dig record of 43 set by North Alabama 's Laura Bellinger versus Truman in a five-game win on Nov. 10, 2006.

The national digs per game leader for the second straight year with a 7.69 average, Schneider's four-year career total of 2,659 ranks third in NCAA history.

Vikings Advance To National Semifinals (11/29/07)

Middle blockers Angie Alvord and Tiana Roma combined for 26 kills and 10 blocks as Western Washington swept to a convincing 30-17, 30-28, 30-19 victory over Dowling College, N.Y., in a quarterfinal match at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight on Thursday at Lee Arena on the campus of Washburn University.

The Vikings, ranked No.15 in the latest AVCA NCAA Division II Top 25, improved to 25-4 with their 20th straight victory, matching the second-longest streak in school history. They have lost just six games during that stretch, sweeping 15 matches.

Western advances to Friday's semifinals against host and No.4-ranked Washburn (38-3) at 4:30 p.m. PST. The Lady Blues upset No.1-rated and defending national champion University of Tampa (31-3) 24-30, 22-30, 30-18, 31-29, 15-8 in a quarterfinal match rebounding from a 2-0 deficit.

The national title match will be Saturday at 5 p.m. PST. All of the Elite Eight matches are being video streamed live on CSTV .

Dowling, which had a 37-match winning streak snapped, ended its season at 39-8. The Golden Lions, who were making their third straight Elite Eight appearance, were led by All-America outside hitter Justyna Michon with 16 kills.

Western, making its first Elite Eight appearance, had a .359 attack percentage to .187 for Dowling. The Vikings also had a huge 10-1 edge in blocks.

“Before the match, you could tell that we were nervous, but I don't think we played as nervous as I thought we were,” said Western coach Diane Flick (8th year, 174-46). “Our composure was really good, especially considering the venue and the event. They played with patience and calm.”

The Vikings' hitting percentage was their third-highest this season.

“I always think a key stat is hitting percentage, and to hit .359 as a team is incredible,” Flick said. “It's one of the higher ones we've had on the year and to do it at the Elite Eight under that kind of pressure is even more unbelievable.”

Alvord had a season-high .625 attack percentage, tying for match-high honors with 16 kills in 24 attempts with just one error and five blocks. Roma had 10 kills in 19 attempts with just one error for a .474 attack percentage and five blocks.

Western outside hitter Jaime Anderson added 13 kills and four blocks and setter Katie Robinson had 47 assists, two service aces and three blocks. Outside hitter Emily Castro had nine kills and 11 digs and Allison Gotz contributed 11 digs.

The Vikings' All-America libero Courtney Schneider collected a match-high 21 digs, becoming just the third player in NCAA II history to reach the 2,600 plateau. Her four-year total now stands at 2,615.

In Game 1, the Vikings scored 10 straight points, the last nine on Schneider's serve, to take an 18-5 lead, and Dowling never got closer than 12 after that.

Dowling led for large portions of Game 2, holding a 27-24 advantage before Western scored six of the last seven points.

The Vikings scored seven consecutive points to take a 13-5 lead in the third game and another stretch of five straight gave them a 20-9 advantage as they closed out the match.

“We took some of the steam out of them because we gave them such a good shot in Game 2 and they weren't able to get the win,” Flick said. “A lot of times that can be deflating to a team, and we played with more patience knowing that we got challenged and were able to come back.”

Washburn, which won the South Central Region championships, is led by two two-time AVCA All-Americans, 6-1 senior right-side hitter Tessa Jones, first-team choice, and 5-11 junior outside hitter Monica Miesner, a second-team pick. The Lady Blues are 17-0 at home this season.

“It's certainly going to be to their advantage to have that hometown crowd around them,” Flick said. “That support system helped them get through the rough times of the first two games (against Tampa ).

“They've got some great hitters, who can hit the ball extremely hard, and they defend the ball well, so it's going to be a dogfight.”

Vikings Stun Coyotes For Regional Title (11/17/07)

Western Washington earned its first trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight with a 30-28, 30-24, 30-23 upset victory over host and No.1 seed Cal State San Bernardino in the championship game of the Pacific Regional Saturday at Coussoulis Arena.

The Vikings, ranked No.24 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 and the No.2 seed, improved to 24-4 with their 19th straight victory, the second-longest streak in school history. They have lost just six games during that stretch.

“We played obviously the best match that we've played all year long,” said Western coach Diane Flick . “And we continued it from the beginning of the match to the end of the match.”

“We just decided that we were going to play loose, that we were going to enjoy every moment, which has been our theme all year.”

CSUSB, rated No.3 nationally, ended its season at 27-3. It was the eighth straight season that the Coyotes had gotten to the final. They won regional championships in 2003 and 2004, but have not been victorious in three title tries on their home court.

The Elite Eight will be held on Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and will be hosted by one of the eight regional champions.

With the win, Western avenged an early-season loss to CSUSB when on Sept. 1 at the WWU Invitational the Vikings lost in five games after winning the first two.

“When we were up by two games, it gave us perspective that we had to continue to push as we did in the first two games and not back off,” Flick said. “And that was a huge thing for us in that third game. We started off hot again, and we just kept pushing to the end, and we weren't going to let up until someone told us to get out of there.”

Four Western players - middle blocker Angie Alvord, outside hitter Jaime Anderson, outside hitter Emily Castro and libero Courtney Schneider - earned all-tournament honors.

Castro led the Vikings in the title match with 14 kills and 13 digs. Alvord had 12 kills, while Anderson and Schneider had 15 and 22 digs, respectively.

Schneider, the national leader in digs per game for the second straight year, moved into third-place among NCAA II career leaders with 2,594.

The Vikings swept Chico State in the first round at regional and prevailed over defending champion UC San Diego in the semifinals after losing the first two games. Western won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship with a 17-1 record.

“I can't imagine being down 2-0 to UC San Diego and picturing where we are now,” Flick said. “This is an unbelievable ride.”

Western Washington Reaches Regional Finals (11/16/07)

Western Washington rallied from a two-game deficit to beat defending regional champion UC San Diego, 23-30, 26-30, 30-21, 30-25, 15-12 in the NCAA Division II Pacific Regional semifinals Friday at Coussoulis Arena in San Bernardino, Calif.

The victory was the 18th in a row for the Vikings (23-4), who became the first GNAC team in the seven-year history of the conference to qualify for the regional title match.

The Vikings will meet top-seed Cal State Bernardino in the title contest. The Coyotes (27-2) qualified for the finals for the eighth year in a row with a 30-27, 21-30, 30-24, 30-19 win over Cal State L.A.

UCSD, ranked No. 21 nationally and the No.3 seed, ended its season 20-8. The Tritons had beaten WWU, which is ranked 24th and is the No. 2 seed, in the first round at last year's regionals.

“I am so proud of this group,” said Viking coach Diane Flick. “It's the signature of what they've done all year long. They're willing to get better, they're willing to learn, and they're willing to keep working hard.”

“We've had some five-game comebacks before, but considering the situation, this is the most special.”

Trailing 11-8 in the deciding fifth game, the Vikings scored five straight points on kills by outside hitters Emily Castro and Jaime Anderson and three straight attack errors by UCSD for a 13-11 lead. The Tritons got to within one at 13-12 before WWU scored the final two points as Anderson had a kill and combined for a block with Angie Alvord on the game-winning point.

Castro led the Vikings with 16 kills and 10 digs. Anderson had a team-high 18 kills and Alvord had a match-high nine blocks and eight kills with a .368 attack percentage.

Tiana Roma contributed 11 kills and setter Katie Robinson, who was nearly knocked out by an errant elbow late in the second game, had 52 assists, nine digs, three blocks and three kills.

Western libero Courtney Schneider tied for match-high honors with 26 digs, moving into fourth-place among NCAA II career leaders with 2,572. She needs two more digs to climb into third-place.

UCSD was paced by the match-high 22 kills of Rebecca Bailey. Amber Ries had 18 kills with a .412 hitting percentage. Sylvia Schmidt had 16 kills and four blocks and Natalie Facchini was credited with 26 digs for the Tritons.

Western had a .240 attack percentage to the Tritons' .206, but UCSD had a 13-7 edge in blocks and a 11-6 advantage in service aces.

An 8-2 run in Game 1 gave UCSD a 23-14 lead that it never relinquished and after Western took an early 9-5 lead in Game 2, the Tritons rallied and scored five of the last seven points to take a two-game lead.

Western led 12-6 in the third game and after UCSD got to within one (20-19), the Vikings used an 8-1 run to close it out. Western got out to a 10-5 lead in Game 4 and extended it to 19-11 with the Tritons never getting closer than five as the match was deadlocked at two games apiece.

Saturday's 7 p.m. title match will be a rematch of an early season contest between the two teams. The Vikings won the first two games before CSUSB rallied for the victory in the Western Washington Invitational.

Vikings Advance To Semifinals In Pacific Regionals (11/15/07)

Anderson

Outside hitter Jaime Anderson had a match-high 14 kills and 18 digs as Western Washington defeated Chico State 30-26, 30-19, 30-28 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Pacific Regional volleyball tournament at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.

In Thursday's first quarterfinal match outside hitter Rebecca Bailey drove home 30 kills to help UC San Diego pull out a 3-2 victory over sixth-seeded Northwest Nazarene.

Western Oregon (16-10) lost its match falling to top-seed Cal State San Bernardino (26-2) 30-21, 30-15, 30-10. San Bernardino will play Cal State L.A. in Friday's second semifinal.

Western Washington (22-4), which is ranked No.24 in the latest AVCA NCAA Division II Top 25, will risk its 17-match win streak against the UCSD (20-7), who are the defending regional champions, in Friday's first semifinal at 5 p.m.

During its 17-match win streak, the second-seeded Vikings have lost just four games out of 55, but still there were some jitters as they earned just their second NCAA playoff win in six matches.

“We had some tournament jitters, which I expected,” said WWU coach Diane Flick . “But we got one under our belt which is something we had a problem with in our last three trips to regionals.”

“We did a good job in coming back from a 28-26 deficit in the third game, so that we didn't have to go to a fourth game … There were some good things that we did, but we didn't control the ball on our side very well.”

Against Chico State, Western Washington had a 13-2 advantage in blocks and a .261 to .141 edge in attack percentage.

Middle blockers Tiana Roma and Angie Alvord had seven and six blocks, respectively. Emily Castro added 11 kills and 11 digs, Marissa Hill had seven kills and no errors, and libero Courtney Schneider had a match-high 24 digs, moving into fifth-place among NCAA II career leaders with 2,546.

Schneider became the first player in school and Great Northwest Athletic Conference history to reach the 700-plateau (702) in digs and her 7.71 per game average is national-record pace as is her career average of 6.96.

Trailing 20-19 in Game 1, WWU scored five straight points with Roma and Anderson having one kill and one block each. The Wildcats never got closer than three after that.

The Vikings got out to a 17-9 lead in Game 2 and Chico State was never within seven from there on.

Neither team led by more than three points in Game 3 and WWU trailed 28-26 before scoring four straight to end the match. Anderson accounted for three of the points, two on blocks and one a kill.

UCSD, which is ranked 21st nationally, advanced with a 23-30, 30-25, 30-25, 26-30, 15-13 win setting up a rematch of last year's first round in which they eliminated WWU.

In addition to Bailey's 30 kills, Sylvia Schmidt had 20 kills, three service aces and three block assists.

Lindsay Forseth led NNU (18-9) with 19 kills and 20 digs while Loni Evenson also had a double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs. Cammy Dranginis had 18 kills and 10 blocks one of them solo for the Crusaders, making their first-ever NCAA post-season appearance.

“You never want to see it end,” NNU head coach Jared Sliger said. “I am very proud of their effort today and we came up just two points short. I thought the seniors played well in their last match and they are the reason we are here.

“Lindsay and Cammy played the best matches of their careers today…on the biggest stage they have ever played.”

Cal State San Bernardino hit .370 (47-10-100) and held Western Oregon to a minus .041 attack percentage in its win. Sara Rice led the Coyotes with 12 kills and Sharea Drawn and Jessica Granados hd 11 each. Rice also had six blocks.

Stacey Bennett had five kills and four different players had four kills each for the Wolves.

WWU Wins 16th Straight to Finish 21-4 (11/10/07)


Anderson	Dranginis

Western Washington solidified its No. 2 regional ranking with a 3-0 sweep of Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene wrapped up a playoff berth with a 3-1 win at Montana State Billings Saturday as the 2007 GNAC regular-season came to a close.

The Vikings (21-4, 17-1) swept past the Saints, 30-15, 30-21, 30-14. Northwest Nazarene (18-8, 12-6), meanwhile, completed a weekend road sweep with a 20-30, 31-29, 30-26, 30-18 victory at Montana State Billings.

NNU came into the trip ranked sixth in the Pacific Regional poll. The top eight teams will advance to the playoffs.

Elsewhere, Central Washington defeated regionally eighth-ranked Western Oregon, 30-22, 30-22, 17-30, 20-30, 15-9 to finish in a third-place tie with NNU; ninth-ranked Seattle Pacific beat Seattle University, 30-17, 30-24, 24-30, 30-27 and Alaska Fairbanks bested Alaska Anchorage, 30-28, 26-30, 30-26, 31-29.

Western Washington, which had already clinched a playoff berth by winning the GNAC title, needed just 68 minutes to dispose of the Saints (4-24, 4-14). Jaime Anderson led a balanced attack with 11 kills, while Angie Alvord and Tiana Roma had 10 each.

Alvord also had team highs of three aces and four blocks. Katie Robinson was credited with 40 assists and libero Courtney Schneider had 18 digs.

Schneider upped her season dig total to 678, breaking her own school and GNAC single-season record of 666 that she set last season. Schneider now has 2,522 career digs. She has a career average of 6.95 and is on pace to crush the current national record of 6.06.

Shealun Campisi was the only Saint in double figures with 11 kills. She also had 11 digs. Andrea Tarbet had seven kills, 17 digs and a team-high three blocks.

Northwest Nazarene finished in a tie for third in the GNAC with its win. The Crusaders were outhit .155 to .142, but took advantage of 14 MSUB errors to outscore the Yellowjackets 19-14 on the service line and also had five more blocks.

Cammy Dranginis led NNU with 11 kills and Lindsay Forseth had 10. Dranginis and Chelsea Pelton, who had eight kills, each had six blocks. Loni Evenson contributed six kills, five blocks and 15 digs.

Devon Crotteau and Alicia Cazemier led MSUB (18-10, 10-8) with 16 kills each. Crotteau also had a match-high 19 digs. Jennifer Boe had 11 kills and setter Stefania Aladjova had 45 assists and four aces.

Rachael Schurman had 15 kills and six blocks and Kady Try had 10 kills as Central Washington (13-14, 12-6) completed its season with five wins in its last six matches.

Despite tying playoff bound NNU, the Wildcats are ineligible for playoff consideration because they finished below .500.

CWU, which had been the only GNAC team to qualify for the NCAA regionals each of the last three seasons, outhit Western Oregon .145 to .093.

In addition to Schurman and Try, CWU was led by Kayla Roof with eight kills and Erin Norris and Bree Brandt, who each had seven. Brandt had six blocks and Norris had five.

Kayla Mainer led Western Oregon (16-9, 13-5), which finished second, with 19 kills, 13 digs and four aces. Haley Kostrba had 15 kills and Lisa Martini was credited with 14 kills. Martini and Jorden Burrows each had six blocks.

Alyssa Given had 26 kills to lead Seattle Pacific (15-11, 10-8) to its win, moving her to within seven kills of the GNAC all-time career record of 1,461 set by Sarah Sommerman of Seattle between 2002 and 2005.

Given, who also had three blocks, finished with a .383 percentage (26-3-60). SPU also got 16 kills from Nikki Finley and 10 from Rachel Biornstad. Joelle Perez had 59 assists.

Nikole Thompson led Seattle (10-16, 7-11) with 19 kills to move into ninth place on the all-time GNAC career kill list with 1,211. Thompson also had 15 digs.

Libby Graff was also in double figures with 11 kills. Emily Deleissegues led the Redhawks with 16 digs.

Megan Thigpen had 17 kills to lead four players in double figures as Alaska Fairbanks (10-16, 4-14) snapped a nine-match losing streak with its win over the Seawolves (5-19, 1-17).

The Nanooks also got 14 kills from Jessica Hill, 13 from Jessica King and 12 from Korlyn Bolster. Thigpen also led UAF defensively with 21 digs, while Bolster had four blocks.

Joanna Johnson led UAA, which lost its final 12 matches, with 27 kills, equaling the third highest single-match kill total in the GNAC this fall. Johnson, who hit for a .263 percentage (27-12-57) also had 19 digs, three blocks and two aces.

Rhea Cardwell was also in double figures with 17 and hit .229. UAA outhit its arch-rivals .227 to .201 and also had three more blocks and the same amount of points on serving, but still could not snap their losing streak as two of the games were decided by two points and two others ended up with a four-point differential.

Western Washington Clinches GNAC Volleyball Title (11/8/07)

Western Washington clinched its fourth GNAC volleyball title and Northwest Nazarene improved its playoff hopes Thursday with Great Northwest Athletic Conference victories.

Emily Castro had 13 kills and Tiana Roma had 12 as the regionally-second ranked Vikings (20-4, 16-1) avenged their only conference loss of the season and ran their win streak to 15 with a 30-24, 30-27, 30-21 home win over second-place Western Oregon (16-8, 13-4).

Libero Courtney Schneider led the Viking defense with 32 digs, matching her own 2007 GNAC season-best total for a three-game match. Her total also equaled the fifth highest three-game match total in GNAC history.

Schneider, who had 20 or more digs for the 22nd time this season breaking her own GNAC record, now has 2,504 career digs and is just the sixth player in NCAA Division II history to surpass the 2,500 level.

The win earned WWU its first league title since 2003 and the GNAC's automatic berth in next weekend's NCAA Division II Pacific Regional playoffs.

Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene (17-8, 11-6), which was ranked sixth in the final regional poll of the 2007 season, improved its playoff chances with a 31-29, 30-24, 30-27 win at Seattle University (10-15, 7-10).

NNU's win, combined with losses by eighth-ranked Western Oregon and No. 9 Seattle Pacific virtually assures the Crusaders of their first-ever NCAA volleyball playoff berth.

SPU (14-11, 9-8) lost at Montana State Billings as the Yellowjackets (18-9, 10-7) built a 10-1 lead in the fifth game before holding on for a 30-32, 30-21, 30-25, 25-30, 15-10 win.

Central Washington (12-14, 11-6), meanwhile, beat Saint Martin's, 30-27, 32-30, 30-28 to remain in a third-place tie with NNU.

Western Washington, which won consecutive GNAC titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003 without losing a conference match, outhit WOU .231 to .145 and also outblocked the Wolves 10-3. Roma, who hit for a .462 percentage (12-0-26) and Marissa Hill had five blocks each.

The Vikings also got eight kills and four blocks from Jaime Anderson and 39 assists and a team-high three aces from Katie Robinson.

Stacey Bennett and Kayla Mainer led WOU with 14 kills each, while Haley Kostrba had 11. Claire Carpenter was credited with 28 digs.

WOU led 20-17 in Game 1 before the Vikings went on a 6-1 run to take command. The second game was tied nine times before a block by Roma and Anderson snapped the final deadlock at 23-23.

The final game was tied 14-14 before the Vikings pulled away by hold the Wolves without a serving point the remainder of the contest.

Cammy Dranginis and Loni Evenson each had 12 kills in Northwest Nazarene's victory. Dranginis had a double-double also finishing with 11 blocks. Evenson led NNU with two aces and also finished with 17 digs. Kristy Wigren had a team-high 21 digs.

Libby Graff led the Redhawks with 15 kills, while Kelly Benson and Nikole Thompson had 11 each. Thompson also was credited with 19 digs. Emily Deleissegues led SU's defense with 25 digs.

NNU rallied from a 29-26 deficit, scoring the final five points (including two of the final three on kills by Evenson) to win the opening game. The Crusaders used another 5-0 run to close out Game 2.

In Game 3, the Crusaders overcame a 16-10 deficit with a 14-2 run to go up 24-18. The Redhawks fought back, coming within one point three times late in the third game, but a kill by Amanda Boschma and a block from Evenson and Dranginis closed out the match.

Alicia Cazemier and Jessica Lechner had 18 kills each in Montana State Billings' victory.

Lechner, who earned her career-high 18th kill on the final point of the match, hit for a .279 average (18-6-43) and Cazemier had a match-high nine blocks, including four solos, and a team-best three aces.

The Yellowjackets also got 17 kills and a team-best 22 digs from Devon Crotteau and 14 kills from Jennifer Boe.

Alyssa Given led Seattle Pacific with 17 kills, increasing her career total to 1,428 and moving to within six of second-place Louise Free of Northwest Nazarene (1999-02) on the all-time GNAC career list.

The Falcons also got 14 kills from Angie Wodrich and 40 assists and four aces from Joelle Perez. Rachel Biornstad was credited with five blocks.

Kady Try had 19 kills and Rachael Schurman had 12 in Central Washington's victory. Try led CWU with a .327 percentage (19-3-49) and also had two aces and 12 digs.

The Wildcats also got nine kills, six blocks and two aces from Erin Norris and 51 assists, nine digs and two blocks from setter Maggie Olson. Erika Stevens was credited with a match-high 27 digs.

Shealun Campisi led the Saints (4-23, 4-13) with 17 kills and Nicole Ostlund had 10 while hitting at a .316 pace. Campisi and Malia Ibarra each had 16 digs. Andrea Tarbet netted five blocks.

CWU has won its last eight matches against the Saints by 3-0 margins, but had to overcame a 27-25 deficit in Game 1 and a 29-27 deficit in Game 2 to keep that streak alive.

In Game 3, the Saints fought back from a 26-19 deficit pulling within one before Central got the match point on a kill error by SMU.

Western Washington Clinches Title Tie (11/3/07)

Western Washington rallied from a seven-point deficit late in the fourth game to claim a 26-30, 30-15, 30-21, 31-29 victory over Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball contest Saturday at Johnson Sports Center.

The win was the Vikings' 14th in a row and enabled them to clinch no worse than a tie for their first GNAC title since 2003.

Elsewhere Alyssa Given struck the final kill for Seattle Pacific putting a halt to the longest single game in the team's 2007 campaign as the Falcons swept Central Washington 30-22, 30-24, 35-33.

Western Oregon, meanwhile, maintained its mathematical hopes to earn a share of the GNAC title with a 30-22, 30-15, 30-19 home win over Alaska Anchorage, Montana State Billings won the final three games to defeat Seattle University, 24-30, 30-17, 30-17, 30-22 and Saint Martin's swept Alaska Fairbanks, 30-22, 30-23, 30-18.

Outside hitter Emily Castro led Western Washington (19-4, 15-1) with a match-high 22 kills, while middle blocker Tiana Roma and outside hitter Jaime Anderson each had 19 in their victory. Roma also had a match-high six blocks.

The Vikings, who outhit NNU .274 to .169 and had seven more blocks (12-5). dropped the opening game for the first time during their current win streak.

WWU, however, won the next two fairly convincingly. In the fourth game, Northwest Nazarene opened up a 22-15 lead before the Vikings ran off six straight points (two each by Castro and Anderson) and eventually tied the game at 23-23.

The Crusaders held their final lead at 27-26 on a kill by Cammy Dranginis, but the Vikings closed the match out on a 5-2 run. Castro had seven kills in the final game and Anderson had six.

Libero Courtney Schneider had a match-high 35 kills, her 21st match with 20 digs or more, tying the GNAC record she set last season. She extended her school and GNAC career record for digs to 2,472, which ranks sixth all-time in NCAA II history.

Castro also had 16 digs for the Vikings, setter Katie Robinson contributed 14 digs and 69 assists, and Anderson 11 digs and five blocks. Middle blocker Angie Alvord had nine kills, seven digs, five blocks and five service aces.

Dranginis led Northwest Nazarene (16-8, 10-6) with 18 kills, three service aces and a .378 percentage, while Lindsay Forseth and Chelsea Pelton had 13 and 12, respectively.

Seattle Pacific (14-10, 9-7) rallied from a 29-25 deficit in Game 3 scoring five straight points before eventually getting the winning point from Given to complete its sweep of Central Washington (11-14, 10-6).

The kill was one of a match-best 17 by Given, who also had 11 digs. Given now has 418 kills on the season and 1,411 in her career, 50 short of the GNAC record.

The Falcons also got 17 kills from Rachel Biornstad and 10 from Nikki Finley. Biornstad and Joelle Perez each had four blocks and Torii Mount had 26 digs to lead SPU's defense.

Rachael Schurman led Central Washington with 14 kills and six blocks on a .522 hitting percentage, while Erika Stevens had a team high 23 digs. The Wildcats also got nine kills each from Erin Norris and Kayla Roof.

Western Oregon (16-7, 13-3) handed Alaska Anchorage (5-18, 1-16) its 11th straight loss as Stacey Bennett and Kayla Mainer led the Wolves with 19 and 17 kills, respectively. Mainer also had team highs of six aces and 18 digs.

Kim Stolk had a team-high seven kills, however the Seawolves were unable to muster much offense getting just 28 total kills as they were outhit .280 to .114.

Montana State Billings (17-9, 9-7) overcame a slow start to earn its seventh home win in eight starts never trailing in the final three games.

Alicia Cazemier led the Yellowjackets with 17 kills, while Devon Crotteau had 15 and Jennifer Boe chipped in with 10. Jessica Lechner finished with nine kills and five blocks for the 'Jackets.

Setter Stefania Aladjova handed out 46 assists as MSUB hit .215 for the match. Nicole Kruse picked up 17 digs helping hold Seattle (10-14, 7-9) to a minus .019 attack percentage.

The Redhawks were led by nine kills apiece from Nikole Thompson and Janet Beckerman. Beckerman had an efficient night at the net, committing only one error on 20 attempts for a .400 hitting percentage. But she and Thompson were the only Redhawks with positive attack percentages.

Nicole Ostlund had 14 kills to lead Saint Martin's (4-22, 4-13) past Alaska Fairbanks (9-16, 3-13), which has lost nine straight. The Saints are 4-5 after ending a 29-match losing streak.

Ostlund hit for a .433 percentage (14-1-30) and Shealun Campisi had 13 kills and a .440 percentage (13-2-25) as the Saints outhit the Nanooks .293 to .111. Andrea Tarbet (10 digs) contributed 10 kills and combined with Campisi (14 digs) for half of SMU's 48 digs.

Megan Thigpen and Korlyn Bolster each had eight kills for Alaska Fairbanks. Bolster didn't have an error and hit .500.

Wildcats Pull Into Third-Place Tie With NNU (11/1/07)

Rachael Schurman led five players in double figures with 24 kills as Central Washington pulled into a third-place tie in the GNAC with Northwest Nazarene by defeating the Crusaders, 28-30, 31-29, 30-28, 30-18 at Nampa Thursday.

Both teams are now 10-5 in the conference. It was CWU's fifth win in its last six matches. The loss ended NNU's six-match win streak.

Meanwhile, Western Washington (18-4, 14-1) extended its win streak to 13 and protected its two-match lead over Western Oregon in the GNAC with a 30-23, 29-31, 30-20, 30-28 road win at Seattle Pacific. It was their first win at SPU since 2003.

The Vikings' magic number to clinch their first GNAC title since 2003 and their fourth overall is two. Any combination of two WWU wins or WOU losses will secure Western Washington the GNAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Pacific Regional playoffs.

Western Oregon kept pace rallying from a Game 1 loss to beat Alaska Fairbanks, 26-30, 30-19, 30-22, 30-25.

Elsewhere Saint Martin's swept past Alaska Anchorage, 30-22, 30-28, 30-23 and Montana State Billings outscored Rocky Mountain 30-26, 21-30, 30-27, 30-19 in a non-conference match.

CWU survived a third-game comeback by NNU in which the Crusaders fought off five game points before cruising to a 12-point win in the fourth contest in its victory.

The first three games were all decided by two points. NNU won the first game 30-28 on a kill by Cammy Dranginis. NNU then had a chance to go up 2-0 in the second game leading 28-26, but Central pulled into a 29-29 tie, then got a kill by Kady Try and an ace by Erin Norris to secure the win.

In the third game, Central led 28-21 and 29-24 before finally securing the win on a ball-handling error. In the fourth game, CWU trailed 4-3, but then ran off seven straight points and was in control the remainder of the way.

Schurman hit for a .326 average (24-9-46) to lead the offense. The Wildcats (11-13) also got 18 kills from Try, 15 kills, five aces and two blocks from Norris and 10 kills each from Kayla Roof and Bree Brandt.

Erika Stevens had 26 digs and setter Maggie Olson had a career-high 65 assists, six kills, a .455 attack percentage and 15 digs.

Dranginis had 18 kills and five blocks for Northwest Nazarene (16-7), which came in ranked fourth in the Pacific Region. Chelsea Pelton was credited with 12 kills and Lindsay Forseth and Loni Evenson each had 10 kills. Setter Allison James had five blocks in addition to her 50 assists.

CWU finished with a decisive .294 to .216 hitting advantage. The Wildcats also had twice as many aces (10-5) though they also had four more service errors (9-5).

Jaime Anderson had 17 kills and Emily Castro had 13 to lead Western Washington, though the Vikings did lose only their third game during their 13-match win streak. Two of the game losses have been to Seattle Pacific and one to Central Washington.

Angie Alvord and Tiana Roma chipped in with 10 kills apiece. Alvord also had six blocks and four aces. Defensively, Courtney Schneider led the Vikings with 36 digs. Setter Katie Robinson had 51 assists. Schneider now has 2,437 career digs, sixth-best all-time in NCAA Division II history.

Seattle Pacific (13-10, 8-7), which had won its last four matches losing just one game, was led by Alyssa Given with 15 kills and 16 digs. Also in double figures was Nikki Finley with 14 kills, Angie Wodrich with 12 and Rachel Biornstad with 10.

Torii Mount and Wodrich led SPU defensively with 27 and 25 digs, respectively, while Wodrich and Jessica Bettencourt each had three blocks. Joelle Perez earned 50 assists.

Kayla Mainer had 18 kills and Claire Carpenter had 27 digs as Western Oregon (15-7, 12-3) held Alaska Fairbanks to a .090 percentage in its win.

The Wolves, who improved to 8-0 at home, also got 12 kills from Haley Kostrba and 10 from Stacey Bennett. Sharon Peterson was credited with seven blocks and Amy Herron had 42 assists.

Megan Thigpen led a trio of Nanook players in double figures with 12 kills. UAF (9-15, 3-13), which has lost eight straight, also got 10 kills each from Jessica King and Jessica Hill.

Shealun Campisi swung at a .500 rate (18-1-34) in Saint Martin's victory. The Saints (3-22, 3-12) also got 11 kills each from Andrea Tarbet and Nicole Ostlund. Campisi had 11 digs and three aces and Tarbet had nine blocks in the victory.

The loss was the 10th straight for the Seawolves (5-17, 1-15), who have lost 15 of 16 since a 4-2 start. Rhea Cardwell and Kim Stolk had eight kills each for UAA, which was outhit .279 to .088.

Devon Crotteau had a career-high 27 kills and 15 digs in Montana State Billings' win. The Yellowjackets (16-9) also got 17 kills from Jennifer Boe and 13 from Alicia Cazemier.

Setter Stefania Aladjova led MSUB in three categories - assists (52), aces (5) and digs (17). Kelly Fox and Jessica Eliasson each had 10 kills for Rocky Mountain, which lost despite outblocking their city rivals 11-1. It was MSUB's 10th straight win over the Bears.

Western Washington Extends Streak To 12 (10/27/09)

Outside hitter Jaime Anderson had eight of her match-high 17 kills in the opening game and Western Washington went on to defeat Montana State Billings 30-16, 30-23, 30-16 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball contest Saturday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The win enabled the Vikings (17-4, 13-1) to stay two matches ahead of second-place Western Oregon (14-7, 11-3), which beat Saint Martin's, 30-21, 29-31, 30-16, 30-20.

Northwest Nazarene (16-6, 10-4) remained three matches back in third place with a 23-30, 30-26, 30-19, 30-25 win at Alaska Fairbanks and Central Washington (10-13, 9-5) stayed four matches behind in fourth place with a 30-23, 30-21, 30-25 home win over Seattle University.

Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific (13-9, 8-6) beat Alaska Anchorage, 30-15, 30-19, 29-31, 30-18 to move into fifth place, half a match ahead of MSUB.

Western Washington, which is ranked No.2 in the NCAA Division II Pacific Region, extended its win streak to 12 matches. Ten of those 12 victories have been sweeps, including the last five.

Anderson had eight kills and no errors in nine attacks in the opening game, helping the Vikings jump to a 13-5 lead and never be threatened.

The second game was the closest of the three. Western led by as much as nine, but the Yellowjackets (15-9, 8-7) closed to within five (28-23) before the Vikings closed out the game.

In addition to Anderson, Tiana Roma also finished in double figures with 10 kills. Roma also had a match-high six blocks, Angie Alvord had three aces.

Libero Courtney Schneider had a match-high 25 digs to move into the lead nationally in that category. Schneider, who now has 2,401 career digs, is averaging 7.53 digs a contest, narrowly ahead of Mayssa Bazzi of Wayne State (Mich.), who is at 7.51.

Jennifer Boe and Devon Crotteau each had 11 for MSU Billings. Alicia Cazemier had eight kills.

Western Washington outhit the Yellowjackets .352 to .129. The Vikings had only seven errors (45-7-108), their third consecutive match in which they've finished in single-digits in errors.

Kayla Mainer led four players in double figures with 22 kills in Western Oregon's road win. The Wolves also got 15 kills from Stacey Bennett and 10 each from Sharon Peterson and Haley Kostrba.

Setter Amy Herron had 61 assists, six kills and three blocks. Peterson led WOU with seven blocks and Kostrba had three aces. Defensive Claire Carpenter led the Wolves with 24 digs.

Shealun Campisi had 13 kills to lead the Saints (2-22, 2-12). Campisi also had 12 digs. Kimber Simonetti was credited with 14 digs. Andrea Tarbet and Nicole Ostlund each had nine kills.

Cammy Dranginis had 16 kills and Loni Evenson had 13 as Northwest Nazarene ran its win streak to six completing a sweep in Alaska. The Crusaders, who outhit Alaska Fairbanks .159 to .103, also got nine kills from Chelsea Pelton and eight each from Lindsay Forseth and Allison James.

Dranginis also led NNU defensively with six blocks. Amanda Boschma had five blocks and 16 digs. Evenson and Forseth had 24 and 21 digs, respectively.

Korlyn Bolster had 13 kills and Jessica Hill and Megan Thigpen had 11 each for Alaska Fairbanks (9-14, 3-12). Erica Gage was credited with nine kills and a match-high eight blocks.

Erin Norris matched her career high with 16 kills and Rachael Schurman had 10 in Central Washington's victory as the Wildcats kept alive their hopes for a winning season.

Norris had just four errors and hit at a .429 pace (16-4-28). Norris also participated in four of CWU's nine blocks. Maggie Olson and Schurman each had five blocks. Schurman, who hit .400 (10-2-20) and had five aces. Erika Stevens was credited with 30 digs.

Central Washington used a 9-0 run to pull away in Game 1, a 10-0 run to take the advantage in Game 2 and an 8-3 run to finish off the third game and the match.

Nikole Thompson had 44 percent (19 of 43) of Seattle's kills as the Redhawks fell to 10-13, including 7-8 in the GNAC. Thompson also had 14 digs. Emily Deleissegues had 21 digs.

Alyssa Given had a season-high 28 kills and 15 digs as Seattle Pacific ran its win streak to four matches. Given hit .558 (28-4-43) in posting the second most kills by a GNAC player this fall.

SPU also got 14 kills from Angie Wodrich, 12 from Rachel Biornstad and 10 from Jessica Bettencourt. Joelle Perez was credited with 63 assists and Torii Mount had 26 digs. Perez' assist total tied her career-high.

SPU outhit Alaska Anchorage .343 to .215 in the match. Joanna Johnson led the Seawolves (5-16, 1-14) with 12 kills and Rhea Cardwell had 11. Rachel Kidwell and Cristal Negron each had 17 digs.

Johnson scored four of UAA's final five points in the third game as the Seawolves rallied from a 28-22 deficit to win. But, SPU then outhit UAA .356 to .150 in the fourth game to close out the match.

Vikings Extend Win Streak to 11 Matches; Given Sets Career Ace Record (10/25/07)

Outside hitter Jaime Anderson had a match-high 17 kills as Western Washington extended its win streak to 11 matches with a 30-21, 30-18, 30-14 sweep of Seattle University Thursday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Meanwhile, Central Washington and Seattle Pacific also earned 3-0 victories and set GNAC ace records in the process.

The Wildcats outscored Montana State Billings, 30-13, 30-19, 30-23 at Nicholson Pavilion, recording 21 aces to set a GNAC record for most aces in a three-game conference match. The 21 aces was also a CWU school record.

The Falcons swept past Alaska Fairbanks, 30-20, 30-21, 30-22 at The Patty Center, getting five of their 15 aces from Alyssa Given, who increased her career total to a GNAC record 185, eclipsing the old mark of 182 by Erika Brunson of Seattle University between 2001 and 2004.

In the final match of the night, Northwest Nazarene (15-6, 9-4) protected its No. 4 regional ranking with a 26-30, 30-25, 30-15, 31-29 road win at Alaska Anchorage.

Western Washington, ranked No.2 in the NCAA Division II Pacific Region, improved to 16-4 overall and 12-1 in the GNAC with its win. Nine of its 11 victories in the win streak have been sweeps. The Vikings are two matches ahead of second-place Western Oregon (10-3), which was idle.

Western Washington had an attack efficiency of .360, its second-best mark of the season and its best in GNAC play, notching 54 kills and having just nine errors in 125 attempts.

Outside hitter Emily Castro had 14 kills and one error in 28 attempts, and middle blocker Angie Alvord had 10 kills in 20 errorless attempts.

Libero Courtney Schneider, who entered the game ranked second nationally in digs per game at 7.43, had a match-high 27 digs. That put her just fractionally behind Mayssa Bazzi of Wayne State. Bazzi is averaging 7.4933 digs a game. Schneider is at 7.4930.

Schneider also upped her school and GNAC career-record total to 2,376, which ranks sixth all-time in NCAA II.

Seattle (10-12, 7-7) hit just .098 in the match as no one was in double figures. Jessica Gunderson had nine and Nikole Thompson had eight.

At Ellensburg, Central Washington (9-13, 8-5) had an amazing 21-0 advantage in aces as it kept alive its hopes for a winning season. In addition to setting a GNAC record for a three-game conference match, CWU's ace total was just one off the GNAC record for most aces in a conference match of any length.

Erin Norris had seven of the aces to increase her total to a CWU season-record 60. Rachael Schurman and Deidre Schmidt and six and five, respectively.

CWU also outhit the Yellowjackets (15-8, 8-6) by a .198 to .083 margin as Schurman led the way with 12 kills. Kady Try had nine kills, while Kayla Roof and Norris had eight and seven, respectively.

Jennifer Boe and Devon Crotteau led MSUB with nine each. The Yellowjackets had eight serving errors as CWU outscored MSUB on services 29-11.

At Fairbanks, Given had a team-high 11 kills in addition to her five aces in SPU's win. Setter Joelle Perez had six kills, six aces and 27 assists, and Angie Wodrich had six kills, four aces and five blocks. The Falcons (12-9, 7-6) also got five kills and six blocks from Jessica Bettencourt.

Megan Thigpen had 11 kills for the Nanooks (9-13, 3-11), who were held to a .034 percentage. SPU finished with a .198 percentage.

At Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene moved to within one match of second-place Western Oregon with its victory. The Crusaders won despite being outhit .197 to .191.

Lindsay Forseth had 16 kills, while Loni Evenson had 14 and Cammy Dranginis had 13. Dranginis also had seven blocks, three of them solos. Kristy Wigren and Forseth had 20 digs each.

Alaska Anchorage (5-15, 1-13) was led by Joanna Johnson with 23 kills. Kim Stolk had 19 and Rhea Cardwell and Jessica Morehouse had 13 each. Morehouse also was credited with six blocks. Setter Milica Micovic had 62 assists.

Northwest Nazarene Beats SMU To Hold Onto Third Place (10/20/07)

Northwest Nazarene maintained its grip on third-place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball race Saturday sweeping Saint Martin's, 30-28, 30-23, 30-19.

In other matches, Devon Crotteau and Alicia Cazemier each had 21 kills as Montana State Billings rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Alaska Fairbanks, 25-30, 25-30, 30-22, 30-24, 15-8, Seattle Pacific handed Western Oregon its second straight 3-0 loss beating the Wolves, 30-19, 30-18, 30-22 and Seattle University outlasted Alaska Anchorage, 30-19, 29-31, 30-24, 32-30.

NNU (14-6 overall) improved to 8-4 in the GNAC with its fourth consecutive win as Loni Evenson led a balanced attack with 11 kills. Cammy Dranginis, Lindsay Forseth and Amanda Boschma each added eight.

Dranginis also added eight blocks, including two of NNU's three solos. Also contributing defensively was Kristy Wigren with 19 digs.

SMU (2-21, 2-11) got a big effort from Shealun Campisi, who had 19 kills, accounting for nearly half of the Saints' 42 kills. Campisi also led her team with 16 digs. Andrea Tarbet was credited with four blocks.

After winning the third and fourth games, Montana State Billings (15-7, 8-5) fell behind 4-0 to start fifth game, but won the next eight points to take control against Alaska Fairbanks (9-12, 3-10).

Cazemier had two kills and Jennifer Boe had one and the Nanooks committed five attack errors in that decisive stretch. Boe finished the match with nine kills, 15 digs and three blocks.

Cazemier, who hit at a .318 pace (21-9-38), is now just two kills short of tying Jessica Bratton's all-time MSUB school record of 1,376 kills. The senior captain was also in on seven blocks, surpassing 500 in her career.

Setter Stefania Aladjova contributed 45 assists, 14 digs and four aces. Nicole Kruse had a match-high 21 digs as MSUB, which hit .160, held the Nanooks to a .081 percentage.

Megan Thigpen paced UAF with 17 kills. Also in double figures was Melissa Refuerzo with 13 kills and Jessica Hill with 10. Erica Gage had seven blocks and Jessica Hill was credited with six.

After winning the first two games, UAF hit just .042 as a team over the final three games.

Alyssa Given and Rachel Biornstad had 14 kills each and Nikki Finley and Angie Wodrich had 12 and 11, respectively, in Seattle Pacific's victory.

The Falcons (11-9, 6-6) outhit Western Oregon .341 to .133, knocking the Wolves (13-7, 10-3) two matches back in the loss column of GNAC leader Western Washington, which was idle.

Biornstad hit for a .500 percentage (14-2-24), while Given had a .394 percentage (14-1-33). Given and Torii Mount led the Falcon defense with 16 digs apiece.

Kayla Mainer was the only player in double figures for the Wolves with 10 kills. WOU managed only one block in the contest. Mainer and Claire Carpenter each had 11 digs.

Nikole Thompson (14 kills), Libby Graff (13) and Kelly Benson (11) combined for 38 kills in Seattle University's win over Alaska Anchorage. Thompson, who moved into second place on SU's career kill list with 1,145, also had 12 digs and three aces.

Janet Beckerman, who had six blocks, and Graff combined for a block on the match point in the decisive fourth game as the Redhawks (10-11 overall) improved to 7-6 in the GNAC.

Joanna Johnson had career highs of 21 kills and 22 digs for Alaska Anchorage (5-14, 1-12), which lost its seventh straight match. Rachel Kidwell contributed 15 kills and Kim Stolk had 10. Jessica Morehouse had seven blocks and Cristal Negron was credited with a career-high 27 digs.

Northwest Nazarene Snaps WOU Seven-Match Streak(10/18/07)

Cammy Dranginis hit for a .556 percentage and had match-highs of 17 kills and five blocks as Northwest Nazarene cruised to a 30-14, 30-18, 30-26 home win over Western Oregon Thursday, snapping the Wolves' seven-match win streak.

Western Washington took advantage of the WOU loss to grab sole possession of first-place in the GNAC with a 30-14, 30-15, 30-22 thrashing of Central Washington. The Vikings (15-4 overall) improved to 11-1 in the GNAC, while the Wolves (13-6 overall) fell to 10-2.

Elsewhere Devon Crotteau led four players in double figures with 17 kills as Montana State Billings (14-7, 7-5) beat Alaska Anchorage, 30-28, 19-30, 30-18, 30-16, Seattle University won three close games in a 30-26, 30-28, 30-27 home win against Alaska Fairbanks and Seattle Pacific beat Saint Martin's, 30-25, 30-24, 30-25 to snap a three-match losing streak.

Northwest Nazarene (13-6, 7-4) had a dominating performance in its win even after falling behind 5-0 in Game 1 outscoring the Wolves 90-58 in the three contests.

It was a complete reversal of the match between the two schools earlier this season in Monmouth when the Wolves outscored the Crusaders 90-53 in a three-game sweep.

Dranginis had just two errors (17-2-27) as she led NNU to a .342 team hitting percentage. Lindsay Forseth had 11 kills and a .417 percentage, while Loni Evenson added nine kills and hit at a .286 clip.

"Our girls executed the game plan perfectly," NNU head coach Jared Sliger said. "We didn't want to get into a digging contest with them and our plan was to terminate the ball early and try not to have long rallies."

The Wolves hit just .077. Stacey Bennett had 14 kills and Kayla Mainer had eight. However, Haley Kostrba, who came in averaging nearly three kills per game, had only two in 27 attempts and was charged with six errors.

Allison James was credited with 33 assists as she set up an offense that made only 10 errors. Kristy Wigren paced the NNU defense with 21 digs.

Western Washington extended its win streak to 10, eight by 3-0 margins, in easily disposing of Central Washington (8-13, 7-5). CWU and SPU are the only teams to win a game against the Vikings during their streak.

Jaime Anderson, Angie Alvord and Tiana Roma led a balanced attack for WWU with 12 kills each. Emily Castro had nine kills and Marissa Hill had seven.

The Vikings hit .336, led by Roma's .600 percentage (12-0-20) and a .393 average (12-1-28) by Alvord. Alvord also had eight blocks as Western Washington outblocked Central by an 11-1 margin in holding their arch-rivals to a .050 hitting percentage.

CWU came into the match ranked 12th nationally in blocking averaging 2.75 per game.

In addition to Alvord, the Vikings were led defensively by Hill with six blocks and Courtney Schneider with 21 digs. Anderson also had 18 digs. Schneider now has 2,349 career digs, sixth on the all-time Division II list. This year she ranks second nationally averaging 7.43 per game.

Rachael Schurman paced Central with 11 kills, but no one else had more than six. Erika Stevens had 25 digs for the Wildcats.

At Billings, Alicia Cazemier and Jessica Lechner with 14 kills each and Jennifer Boe with 10 joined Crotteau in double figures in MSUB's win.

The Yellowjackets had a 13-4 advantage in aces as Crotteau had four and Boe had three. Crotteau also led MSUB defensively, matching Nicole Kruse's team-best 11 digs.

Joanna Johnson led Alaska Anchorage (5-13, 1-11), which has lost six straight, with 14 kills and Rachel Kidwell had 10. Kidwell and Johnson also were in double figures in digs with 15 and 13, respectively. Kim Stolk had nine kills and a match-high 10 blocks, four of them solos.

Nikole Thompson had 11 kills to lead Seattle University (9-11, 6-6) to its win in a match dominated by defense. The Redhawks won despite hitting only .107 as they held the Nanooks to a .074 percentage.

In addition to Thompson, Seattle got nine kills from Libby Graff and eight from Kelly Benson. Emily Deleissegues had 21 digs and Thompson had 12. Janet Beckerman paced SU with four blocks.

The Redhawks also earned nine aces, four by Graff, three by Thompson and two by Benson.

Megan Thigpen led UAF (9-11, 3-9) with 11 kills, while Erica Gage had nine. Thigpen also had 13 digs and three aces. Jessica King had 16 digs.

Angie Wodrich and Alyssa Given combined for 33 kills in Seattle Pacific's victory. Wodrich had 17 and hit for a .308 percentage. She also had a match-high five blocks.

Given was credited with 16 kills, 15 digs and three aces. The three aces gives her a school single-season record of 60 and increased her career total to 179, just three off the GNAC standard.

Setter Joelle Perez had 44 assists and 14 digs. Torii Mount led the Falcons (10-9, 5-6) with 16 digs. Jessica Bettencourt had seven kills in only 11 attempts.

Shealun Campisi paced Saint Martin's (2-20, 2-10) with 10 kills, while Andrea Tarbet had nine kills and a team-best 14 digs.

WOU, WWU Stay On Top With 3-0 Wins (10/13/07)

Stacey Bennett had a career-high 19 kills and hit for a .485 percentage as Western Oregon maintained a share of first-place in the GNAC Saturday, sweeping Seattle University, 30-24, 30-27, 30-18 before 764 fans at the New PE Building in Monmouth.

The Wolves (13-5 overall) improved to 10-1 in the conference with the win. Western Washington (14-4 overall) also improved to 10-1 defeating Alaska Fairbanks, 30-18, 30-13, 30-24 at The Patty Center.

Elsewhere Northwest Nazarene beat Seattle Pacific, 30-27, 30-21, 28-30, 30-19 behind the 17 kills and 10 blocks of Cammy Dranginis, Saint Martin's upset regionally ninth-ranked Montana State Billings, 30-16, 21-30, 30-18, 30-28 and Central Washington swept Alaska Anchorage, 30-17, 30-21, 30-18.

Central took over sole possession of third-place in the GNAC with its win and MSUB's loss, while the Crusaders slipped ahead of the Yellowjackets into fourth place.

Bennett had just three errors in 33 attempts and also had a pair of blocks in WOU's victory. The Wolves also got 14 kills, 16 digs and four aces from Kayla Mainer and seven kills and a team-high 18 digs from Kaley Kostrba. Lisa Martini had four blocks.

Nikole Thompson had 12 kills for Seattle (8-11, 5-6), which was held to a .113 hitting percentage. Thompson now has 1,120 career kills, the third best total in school history. Josie Christiansen had six blocks.

Emily Castro had 11 kills and Tiana Roma and Jaime Anderson had 10 each in Western Washington's victory, its ninth in a row including seven sweeps. Castro and Roma hit for .478 and .444 percentages, respectively.

The Vikings, who had 11 aces including three each from Angie Alvord, setter Katie Robinson (36 assists) and Marissa Hill, outhit UAF .269 to .062.

Alvord, Roma and Hill all had four blocks and Courtney Schneider had 24 digs to lead the Viking defense. Schneider now has 2,328 career digs, which ranks sixth in NCAA II history. Her career per game average of 6.86 is on a national-record pace.

No one was in double figures for the Nanooks (9-10, 3-8), who were led in kills by Jessica King with eight and Megan Thigpen with seven. Korlyn Bolster was credited with three blocks.

Dranginis led Northwest Nazarene (12-6, 6-4) to its win accounting for 27 total points (17 kills, six solo blocks, four assists, two aces). Six of her kills came in the decisive fourth game as NNU earned its first win over SPU since Sept. 27, 2003.

The Crusaders also got 10 kills and 18 digs from Loni Evenson, while Lindsay Forseth, who had seven kills, led the Crusader defense which limited SPU to a .075 percentage, with 23 digs.

Alyssa Given had 18 kills and 18 digs for Seattle Pacific (9-9, 4-6), while Angie Wodrich and Sarah Risser had 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Torii Mount was credited with 23 digs and Robin De Jong had five blocks.

Saint Martin's (2-19, 2-9), which ended a 29-match losing streak last week, earned its second conference win as Shealun Campisi had 14 kills and Andrea Tarbet had 11. Tarbet also had eight blocks as the Saints had twice as many team blocks (12-6) as the Yellowjackets (13-7, 6-5).

Saint Martin's, which outhit MSUB .214 to .200, also got nine kills from Kirstyn Druzianich and eight from Nicole Ostlund. Kanoe Kalalau had 43 assists, nine digs, four aces and three blocks.

Alicia Cazemier had 19 kills and Devon Crotteau had 16 for MSUB, which was called for 17 ball-handling errors. Katrina Solomon and Crotteau each had 13 digs.

Central Washington held Alaska Anchorage to a .009 hitting percentage and Kayla Roof and Kady Try each had 10 kills as the Wildcats (8-12, 7-4) stayed three matches back of the co-leaders.

The Wildcats also got 13 aces, including seven from Erin Norris and four from Kayla Roof. Rachael Schurman had seven kills and seven blocks, including three solos.

UAA's Joanna Johnson led all players with 13 kills, but was also charged with 12 errors in her 44 attempts. Rachel Kidwell had eight kills for the Seawolves (5-12, 1-10). UAA was out-aced 13-1 and out-blocked 12-6

Western Oregon Outlast Yellowjackets, Vikings Sweep Anchorage (10/11/07)

Stacey Bennett had 16 kills and five blocks as Western Oregon overcame a 2-1 game deficit, rallying for a 31-29, 21-30, 24-30, 30-22, 15-11 volleyball victory over Montana State Billings Thursday night in front of 625 fans at the Physical Education Building in Monmouth.

The win allowed the Wolves to remain tied for first in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with Western Washington. Both teams are now 9-1. The Vikings swept Alaska Anchorage, 30-24, 30-17, 30-14.

Elsewhere Central Washington and Seattle University posted road wins. The Redhawks clipped Saint Martin's, 30-19, 31-29, 27-30, 30-19 at Lacey. CWU outscored Alaska Fairbanks 30-21, 27-30, 30-26, 30-26 at Fairbanks.

In addition to Bennett, WOU (12-5 overall) also got 12 kills from Lisa Martini and 11 each from Kayla Mainer and Haley Kostrba.

Kostrba also had 28 digs. Claire Carpenter, Mainer and setter Amy Herron contributed defensively with 21, 20 and 20 digs, respectively. Mainer had four service aces.

Devon Crotteau led the Yellowjackets (13-6, 6-4), who had two game point opportunities before losing the first game, with 23 kills and Alicia Cazemier added 17. Cazemier also had seven total blocks.

After the two teams were deadlocked at two games each, they traded blows in the fifth. No team led by more than two points until the Wolves pulled away from 11-10 to a 14-11 margin on a kill by Bennett. Martini then put away a solo block to end the match.

Outside hitter Jaime Anderson had a match-high 14 kills with a .303 attack percentage, 11 digs, three blocks and two service aces in Western Washington's victory at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

It was the eighth straight victory for the Vikings (13-4 overall), six of them sweeps. WWU held UAA to a .056 hitting percentage, while posting a .276 percentage of its own.

Angie Alvord had 13 kills and a .423 attack percentage, Tiana Roma added 11 kills and a match-high six blocks and Emily Castro had 11 kills in the victory.

Libero Courtney Schneider posted her 67th consecutive double-digit dig contest with a match-high 20. That upped her school and GNAC career-record total to 2,304, moving her into sixth place among NCAA II leaders.

Joanna Johnson accounted for 12 of UAA's 27 kills in the match. Rachel Kidwell had 18 digs and Kim Stolk had four blocks for the Seawolves (5-11, 1-9), who have lost four straight.

UAA hung close in the first game, rallying from a 17-10 deficit to take a 21-20 lead on a kill by setter Milica Micovic. But the Vikings, ranked No. 2 in the initial Division II Pacific Region poll this week, stormed back with six straight points and never looked back.

UAA's biggest bright spot was junior outside hitter Jessica Morehouse, who came one shy of her career-high with nine kills. The former Service High standout delivered the night's best individual attack percentage at .467 as well.

Central Washington (7-12, 6-4) moved into a third-place tie in the GNAC with MSU Billings with its victory at Alaska Fairbanks as Rachael Schurman had match-highs of 18 kills and nine blocks.

Schurman also hit at a .364 pace (18-6-33) as the Wildcats outhit the Nanooks .281 to .099 posting their second best percentage of the season.

Central also got 15 kills, four aces and seven blocks from Erin Norris and 13 kills and four blocks from Kady Try.

Setter Maggie Olson had 55 assists, four kills and six blocks, while libero Erika Stevens had 23 digs.

Jessica King led UAF (9-9, 3-7) with 14 kills, while Megan Thigpen and Korlyn Bolster had 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Erica Gage chipped in with seven blocks.

Seattle University (8-10) evened its conference record at 5-5 with its fifth win in its last seven matches as Kelly Benson led five players in double figures with 17 kills at Saint Martin's.

Joining Benson in double figures were Nikole Thompson with 16 kills, Libby Graff with 15, Emily Powell with 12 and Josie Christiansen with 10. Christiansen also had six blocks and Emily Deleissegues had 26 digs to key the Redhawk defense.

Seattle, which outhit the Saints (1-19, 1-9), also got 55 assists and 11 digs from setter Jamie Mellies. Thompson and Shelly Anderson had 13 and 11 digs, respectively.

The Saints were led by Kirstyn Druzianich with 14 kills and Andrea Tarbet and Shealun Campisi with 13 each. Druzianich also had 20 digs.

Wolves, Viks Finish First Half at 8-1 (10/6/07)

Outside hitter Jaime Anderson had 17 kills, lifting Western Washington to a 27-30, 30-16, 30-16, 30-22 victory over Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match Saturday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings completed the first half of the conference season with an 8-1 league record and tied for first-place with Western Oregon, which defeated Alaska Fairbanks 30-18, 30-28, 30-26 to complete its best half in the GNAC's seven-year history.

Meanwhile, Saint Martin's ended a 29-match losing streak with a 30-27, 30-17, 30-21 sweep of Alaska Anchorage as Shealun Campisi led the way with 15 kills. It was SMU's first win since Sept. 21, 2006 when it beat the Seawolves by the same score.

In its 29 losses, Saint Martin's had won a grand total of only seven games never getting beyond the fourth game.

Elsewhere Seattle University surprised Montana State Billings, 30-19, 30-23, 22-30, 30-25.

Still, the Yellowjackets (6-3) finished the first half in third place when Northwest Nazarene beat Central Washington, 30-28, 30-25, 19-30, 26-30, 15-8 knocking the Wildcats into a fourth-place tie with the Crusaders, both with 5-4 records.

Western Washington (12-4 overall) had four players in double figures as it extended its win streak to seven matches. In addition to Anderson, Tiana Roma had 15 kills and Emily Castro added 14. Angie Alvord was credited with 11 kills and a match-high five blocks.

Roma hit for a .476 average (11-1-21) as WWU doubled Seattle Pacific's attack percentage (.235-.115). Setter Katie Robinson was six of 10 on kill attempts and had 50 assists, while Courtney Schneider had 40 digs, her 66th consecutive double-digit dig performance and her fourth 40-dig effort this season.

That upped her school and GNAC career-record total to 2,284, just five short of seventh place among NCAA Division II leaders. She is now responsible for eight of the 14 40-dig performances in GNAC history.

Seattle Pacific was led by Alyssa Given with 18 kills, while Rachel Biornstad had 11 and Angie Wodrich had 10.

The Falcons (9-8, 4-5) won the opening game, jumping to a stunning 14-2 lead, then recovering after Western tied the frame at 16-16 to claim a 30-27 triumph as Given had six kills.

But, Western bounced back for convincing victories in the second and third games, then pulled away late in the fourth. The Vikings held a 22-20 lead, then scored eight of the last 10 points, with Roma notching three kills, a solo block and an assist in the run.

Stacey Bennett had 15 kills and a .538 hitting percentage leading Western Oregon to its sweep of Alaska Fairbanks.

WOU (11-5 overall) has won five straight matches, losing just one game, since suffering its only conference loss Sept. 15 at Billings. They are just one win away from equaling their highest GNAC win total. The Wolves finished 9-9 in both 2001 and 2006.

Western Oregon outhit UAF .238 to .198 in its victory. In addition to Bennett, Kayla Mainer and Haley Kostrba were also in double figures with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Mainer had 15 digs.

Megan Thigpen paced the Nanooks (9-8, 3-6) with 15 kills and Korlyn Bolster had nine. Erica Gage was credited with seven blocks.

Saint Martin's (1-17 overall) hit for a .270 percentage, while holding the Alaska Anchorage (5-10 overall) to a .142 percentage as both teams finished the first half with 1-8 GNAC records.

Campisi, who hit .286 (15-3-42) also had eight digs in SMU's win. Andrea Tarbet had 12 kills and Kirstyn Druzianich had a team-high four blocks.

Joanna Johnson led UAA with a career-high 18 kills, nearly half of UAA's team total of 41. Cristal Negron netted 16 digs, while Johnson and Rachel Kidwell had 11 each. Kim Stolk had four blocks.

Seattle University (7-10, 4-5) got 16 kills from Nikole Thompson and 10 from Libby Graff in its victory. The Redhawks hit only .136. Though that was 26 points better than MSUB, its real advantages came on the serving line and at the net.

Seattle was credited with 14 aces, five by Thompson and four by Josie Christiansen, while the 'Jackets had only eight, four by Devon Crotteau. SU also outblocked MSUB 10-4 as Christiansen was credited with six blocking assists.

Crotteau paced MSUB (13-5 overall) with 16 kills, while Jennifer Boe had 12 and Alicia Cazemier had 11. Crotteau also had 16 digs.

Lindsay Forseth matched her career high with 21 kills, including three in a decisive 8-2 run to finish off the fifth game, as Northwest Nazarene avoided a Central Washington comeback to beat the Wildcats.

The Crusaders (11-6 overall) won the first two games, but CWU used a 17-3 start, which included 12 straight serving points by Erin Norris, to win the third game. Norris had five of her six aces in that contest.

Then in the fourth game, CWU (6-12) overcame a 19-11 deficit, scoring 10 straight points, in a 30-26 victory. But, the Crusaders pulled away from the Wildcats in the fifth game, scoring eight of the final 10 points.

In addition to Forseth's 21 kills, NNU got 12 kills and a match-high nine blocks from Cammy Dranginis and 10 kills and a match-high 24 digs from Loni Evenson in the win.

Setter Allison James just missed a triple-double finishing with 51 assists, 12 digs and nine kills. She also had seven blocks.

Rachael Schurman had 17 kills and Norris added 16 to pace the Wildcats. Both players along with Bree Brandt also had five blocks. Also in double figures for the 'Cats were Kayla Roof with 12 kills and Kady Try with 11. Erika Stevens matched NNU's Evenson for high dig honors with 24.

Viks, Wolves Win; Schurman Sets Record (10/4/07)

Outside hitter Emily Castro had a match-high 12 kills and middle blocker Tiana Roma added 11, leading Western Washington to a 30-25, 30-21, 30-28, victory over Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match Thursday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

With the win the Vikings (11-4, 7-1) remained in a first-place tie with Western Oregon (10-5, 7-1), which swept Alaska Anchorage, 30-19, 30-21, 30-22 in the 49th state.

Meanwhile in Ellensburg, Rachael Schurman had 18 kills, didn't commit an error and set school and GNAC records with 14 blocks as Central Washington (6-11, 5-3) defeated Seattle Pacific, 30-24, 25-30, 30-16, 30-25 dropping the two-time defending conference champions to the .500 level.

In Thursday's final match, Alaska Fairbanks (9-7, 3-5) cruised past Saint Martin's, 30-23, 30-12, 30-24 at Fairbanks.

Western Washington's win was its sixth straight, five of them 3-0 sweeps. The Vikings have won 18 of 19 games in that stretch.

The third game was the tightest, as Western had to rally from an 8-2 deficit. Northwest Nazarene (10-6, 4-4), which was led by Lindsay Forseth and Chelsea Pelton with 10 kills each, still held a 20-15 lead after consecutive aces by Forseth.

The Vikings finally tied the game at 22-22, the first of seven ties before Western closed out the match on a service ace by middle blocker Angie Alvord.

Western never trailed in the opening game, although its biggest lead was just five points. In the second game, the Vikings scored the first six points, but the Crusaders responded with six straight of their own. Western finally pulled away late in the frame by scoring seven of the last nine points.

Each team hit .182 in the match as Roma hit .500 (11-1-20) and Alvord hit .318 (9-22) to lead the Vikings and Forseth (10-1-24) and Pelton (10-2-23) led NNU with .375 and .348 percentages.

Western, however, out-aced the Crusaders 15-4 - Alvord had six and setter Katie Robinson had four along with 34 assists - and had one fewer service error.

Defensively libero Courtney Schneider extended her consecutive double-digit dig streak to 65 with a match-high 22. That upped her school and GNAC career-record total to 2,244, moving her into eighth place among NCAA Division II leaders.

Haley Kostrba led a balanced attack with 11 kills as Western Oregon beat short-handed Alaska Anchorage for its fourth straight victory.

WOU also got nine kills from Stacey Bennett and Lisa Martini and eight from Sharon Peterson and Kayla Mainer. Defensively, the Wolves were led by Mainer and Kostrba with 11 digs each. Martini had three blocks.

Alaska Anchorage (5-9, 1-7), which played without Rhea Cardwell (3.34 kills per game) who is out for two weeks with a stress fracture, got 11 kills from Joanna Johnson and six from Rachel Kidwell.

Four different players - including Kidwell, Johnson, Samantha Calderwood and Cristal Negron - each had nine digs.

Schurman hit for a .439 average (18-0-41) in keying Central's victory. Her 14 blocks eclipsed the old GNAC record of 13 set by UAF's Carlin Smith against Seattle Pacific on Sept. 28, 2002, and the CWU school mark of 13, which had been accomplished twice previously before the formation of the GNAC.

The Wildcats also had 20 team blocks to tie the GNAC record for a four-game match. The total was just two short of the GNAC record for all matches.

In addition to Schurman, Central was led by Kady Try with 14 kills and eight blocks and Erin Norris with 10 kills, three aces and five blocks.

Setter Maggie Olson, who was credited with 42 assists, and Bree Brandt also had five blocks each, while libero Erika Stevens was credited with 33 digs.

Alyssa Given led Seattle Pacific with 13 kills and Angie Wodrich had nine. Wodrich, however, was charged with 12 errors as CWU held the Falcons (9-7, 4-4) to a .034 percentage, while hitting .169.

At Fairbanks, Megan Thigpen had 14 kills and Korlyn Bolster equaled a GNAC record for hitting percentage (13-0-14, .929) as Alaska Fairbanks handed Saint Martin's (0-17, 0-8) its 29th straight loss.

Joining the two in UAF's .333 hitting attack (47-12-105), were Jessica Hill with nine kills and a .421 percentage (9-1-19). Thigpen also had a match-high 19 digs and Alexa Sherman led the Nanooks with 41 assists.

Shealun Campisi had 10 kills for the Saints, who were held to a total of 31 and a .125 percentage. Andrea Tarbet had seven kills and a match-high four blocks.

Yellowjackets Dispose of Rocky Mountain (10/2/07)

It wasn't always pretty, but Montana State Billings found a way to dispatch cross-town Rocky Mountain 3-1 Tuesday night in a non-conference volleyball match at RMC. The Yellowjackets won 30-28, 32-34, 30-23, 30-27 to improve to 13-4 on the season.

“It's fun to keep the tradition of the inner city rivalry going,” said Yellowjacket head coach Sara Schaub after the match. “It was a great crowd and a great atmosphere. It's good to walk away with a win in a tough match like that.”

The Yellowjackets opened the match on fire and appeared to be on cruise control halfway through game one. They opened a 22-9 lead on the Bears before the momentum took a massive swing.

The Bears went on a furious 19-6 run to tie the game at 28 all. They weren't able to finish off the rally, however. A Rock service error gave the Jackets a 29-28 edge, and Alicia Cazemier finished off the game with one of her match-high 20 kills.

“I think we got complacent, and we let them back into the game” said Schaub. “Every streak they made came when we were ahead by a lot. They served tough, and we weren't able to receive the serves well and get our offense going.”

The momentum gained by the Bears in the second half of the first game carried over into game two. They played even with the Jackets through the first nine points. MSUB responded with a 7-3 run capped by a Stefania Aladjova service ace to take a 16-12 lead.

The Bears battled back again, and the game turned into a battle of wills. Rocky tied the game at 19 apiece on a Kelly Fox kill. From that point there were seven ties and eight lead changes. MSUB had two shots at game point after the score reached 30-30, but they couldn't close the deal.

Instead of reeling, the Yellowjackets responded with their best game of the night in the third game. MSUB led wire to wire and posted a .344 hitting percentage. Cazemier and Jessica Lechner each posted five kills in the pivotal third game.

After Rocky jumped to a 5-2 lead to start the fourth game, the Yellowjackets took over to close the match. They tied the game at 7-7 and used a 16-2 run to break out to a 23-9 lead. A majority of the run came on Hillary Morrison's service. Morrison served up 10-straight Yellowjacket points. The Bears were able to rally to within 28-27, but another service error and a Jennifer Boe kill ended the match.

“Hillary did a good job of serving tough to throw off their offense,” Schaub said. “We stayed disciplined with our blocking and defense so we could attack effectively.”

Cazemier's 20 kills came on a blistering .452 attack percentage. The senior middle blocker had just six errors on 31 attempts and moved to No. 2 on the Yellowjacket career kills list with 1,292. She is now within 84 kills of tying the school record. Cazemier also posted six block assists and three aces.

“Alicia had a good match,” said Schaub. “We need to get the ball to her more. She is our go-to player. When she produces, it usually ends in a win.”

Devon Crotteau knocked down 19 kills on a .255 hitting percentage. She had a dozen digs and led all players with five service aces. Boe finished with 16 kills, and Lechner drilled a career-high 13 kills.

Aladjova dished out a career-high 59 assists and dropped in four aces. Nicole Kruse picked up a match-high 14 digs. The Jackets had 12 aces in the match, but handed the Bears 20 points on service errors.

Sarah Madinger, Shanda Veldhuisen, and Jessica Eliasson each posted nine kills to lead the Bears. Veldhuisen and Ashley Corburn each had 10 digs. The Jackets out-hit the Bears .276 to .173 for the match.

Vikings, Wolves Hold On To First Place (9/29/07)

Emily Castro and Tiana Roma each had 12 kills and Western Washington maintained a share of first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball race Saturday sweeping Seattle University, 30-27, 30-24, 30-21 in a road match at the Connolly Center.

The Vikings (6-1) are tied for first with Western Oregon (6-1), which defeated Saint Martin's, 34-32, 30-12, 25-30, 30-21 at home. The co-leaders are one-half match ahead of Montana State Billings, which improved to 6-2 by defeating Central Washington.

MSUB, Northwest Nazarene and Seattle Pacific all bounced back from home losses on Thursday with wins.

The Yellowjackets out pointed CWU, 30-22, 25-30, 30-22, 30-20, while the Crusaders swept UAA 30-17, 30-21, 30-26. Seattle Pacific overcame a 2-1 deficit to defeat Alaska Fairbanks, 30-21, 28-30, 30-32, 30-23, 16-14.

Roma hit for a .345 percentage (12-2-29) in WWU's victory. Castro, however, was held to a .000 percentage (12-20-50) and the Vikings (10-4 overall) hit only .174 for the match.

But Western once again played outstanding defense, limiting the Redhawks to just 37 kills and a .092 percentage, getting 28 digs from Courtney Schneider, 16 from Castro and 10 from Jaime Anderson.

Schneider increased her career dig total to 2,222 and moved into ninth place on the NCAA Division II all-time career list.

Also contributing was freshman defensive specialist Allison Gotz with nine digs.

“Tiana (Roma) was outstanding tonight and Allison (Gotz) had the game of her life, picking up balls and just frustrating their offense,” said Western coach Diane Flick.

The Vikings, who have won five straight, also got four service aces, six kills and two blocks from Angie Alvord. WWU out-aced the Redhawks 9-2.

Seattle (6-10, 3-5) was led by Nikole Thompson with 13 kills, while Libby Graff had 10. Jamie Mellies and Emily Powell had four blocks each. Powell also had eight kills.

At Monmouth, Kayla Mainer had 21 kills and 19 digs in Western Oregon's victory over Saint Martin's. The Wolves (9-5 overall) also received 11 kills and 16 digs from Haley Kostrba.

Stacey Bennett had nine kills and Lisa Martini and Sharon Peterson also contributed to a balanced attack with seven kills each.

Defensively, Claire Carpenter led five players in double figures with 24 digs. In addition to Mainer and Kostrba, other dig leaders included Amy Herron and Jessica Baty with 13 each.

Shealun Campisi had 14 kills and Andrea Tarbet had 12 kills, 13 digs and six blocks for Saint Martin's (0-16, 0-7), which lost for the 28th time in a row, but not without a struggle.

In the first game, the Saints had six game points before back-to-back kills by Mainer gave WOU the win. SMU then closed out the third game with a 6-1 run to break a 24-24 tie and then jumped to a 6-0 lead in Game 4 before the Wolves rallied for the victory.

At Billings, Alicia Cazemier led a three-pronged attack for MSUB (12-4 overall) getting 15 kills and 11 blocks, including four solos. Jennifer Boe and Devon Crotteau each had 14 kills. Crotteau also had a team-best 15 digs.

Setter Stefania Aladjova contributed 44 assists as MSUB outhit the Wildcats (5-11, 4-3) .248 to .052. Aladjova was also credited with five aces and four blocks.

“Right away Stefania (Aladjova) did a good job spreading the ball around, and we got our offense in a rhythm,” said Yellowjacket coach Sara Schaub.

Rachael Schurman and Kady Try each had 13 kills for Central. Schurman, who finished with seven blocks, had a .500 percentage (13-3-20).

At Nampa, Chelsea Pelton led an efficient Northwest Nazarene attack with 12 kills. four blocks and a .524 percentage (12-1-21). Overall, the Crusaders (10-5, 4-3) hit .358, while holding Alaska Anchorage to a .140 percentage.

Loni Evenson had 10 kills and setter Allison James earned 35 assists and had seven kills in nine attempts.

Kim Stolk had 11 kills for the Seawolves (5-8, 1-6), while Rachel Kidwell was credited with 10. Joanna Johnson and Stolk each had three blocks.

At Brougham Pavilion, Alyssa Given had 24 kills and set a school record for career kills in Seattle Pacific's win. Given now has 1,261 moving ahead of Leilani Kamahoahoa, who had 1,259 between 1998 and 2001. She now ranks fifth in GNAC history.

The Falcons also got a career-high 20 kills from Angie Wodrich and 27 digs from Torii Mount.

Setter Joelle Perez had a match high 61 assists and 12 digs in the contest, while Robin De Jong added seven kills and four blocks on a .583 clip.

UAF's Megan Thigpen matched Given's kill total, producing 24 kills and 19 digs. The Nanooks (8-7, 2-5) also got 13 kills from Korlyn Bolster and 12 from Jessica Hill. Alexa Sherman had 56 assists, 17 digs and three aces.

Behind 2-1, SPU got an added boost from Nikki Finley who struck down three of her five kills including the game-winner in the fourth contest.

SPU (9-6, 4-3) then roared out to a 7-2 lead to start the fifth game, but fell behind 12-9 before the Nanooks rallied to tie it at 12 and 14. But, two attack errors gave SPU the victory.

Vikings Move Into First, UAA Shocks SPU (9/27/07)

Outside hitter Emily Castro had a match-high 14 kills and outside hitter Jaime Anderson added 10 as Western Washington moved into a tie for first place in the GNAC, sweeping Montana State Billings 30-23, 30-22, 30-21 , Thursday at Alterowitz Gymnasium in Billings.

Elsewhere in the conference, Alaska Anchorage earned its first conference win shocking two-time defending champion Seattle Pacific, 30-28, 30-28, 19-30, 19-30, 15-9 at Brougham Pavilion.

Meanwhile, Alaska Fairbanks overcame a 2-1 game deficit to defeat Northwest Nazarene, 26-30, 30-27, 31-33, 30-24, 15-12 at Nampa, and Central Washington earned a 30-28, 17-30, 31-29, 30-26 road win at Seattle University to complete a four-match sweep for Thursday's visiting teams.

Western Washington improved to 9-4 overall and to 5-1 in the GNAC, matching idle Western Oregon's first-place record. It was the Vikings' fourth straight victory and snapped MSUB's five-match win streak.

The Yellowjackets (11-4, 5-2), who suffered their first loss in three home matches, had won nine of their last 10.

Western hit .280, while holding MSUB to .131. Castro also had eight digs and two blocks in addition to her 14 kills.

The Vikings also got 23 kills from middle blockers Angie Alvord and Tiana Roma, and opposite hitter Marissa Hill. Alvord and Roma each had eight kills and Hill seven. Roma also had a match-high four blocks as did Anderson.

MSUB was led by Jennifer Boe, Devon Crotteau and Jessica Lechner with nine kills each, while Alicia Cazemier had just seven and was held to a .000 percentage (7-7-26).

Both Crotteau and Cazemier had double-digit kill streaks of 13 snapped. Crotteau had produced 16 or more kills in 11 of the 13 matches, while Cazemier had 13 or more in all 13.

“We played a really solid match,” said Western coach Diane Flick. “There were some times when we had some hiccups, but we recovered from them really well.”

“We got 24 kills from our outside hitters and 23 more from our middles and opposites, that's a nice balanced attack. We made our opponent have to defend the entire net and that's really important for us.”

Western libero Courtney Schneider, who ranks second nationally among dig leaders this season, had her 63rd consecutive double-digit dig contest with a match-high 17. That upped her school and GNAC career-record total to 2,194, moving her into 10th place among NCAA Division II leaders.

At Brougham Pavilion, Joanna Johnson had 15 kills and Rhea Cardwell had 13, including five in the decisive fifth game, as Alaska Anchorage (5-8, 1-5) ended a five-match losing streak and earned its first win over SPU (8-6, 3-3) since 2003.

SPU led 5-4 in the final game before the Seawolves ran off five straight points to take a 9-5 lead. The Falcons later pulled to within 11-9 but UAA got the final four points, two by Cardwell and two on SPU attack errors to pull off the upset.

Seattle Pacific outhit UAA .208 to .194, but the Seawolves had a .368 to .125 advantage in Game 5. SPU also hurt itself committing 17 service errors in the match.

In addition to her 15 kills, Johnson was a force defensively with four blocks and 13 digs. Cristal Negron led UAA with 20 digs and Kim Stolk had a team-high five blocks along with eight kills. Rachel Kidwell had eight kills, 14 digs and three service aces and hit for a career-best .316 percentage.

Alyssa Given had a match-high 25 kills and hit for a .322 percentage, while Angie Wodrich had 19 kills and a .280 percentage for SPU, but the rest of the team had just 17 kills and a combined .047 percentage.

Given also had three blocks and two aces. Jessica Bettencourt had six blocks and Torii Mount was credited with a team-high 19 digs.

At Nampa, Megan Thigpen had 18 kills and Korlyn Bolster contributed 16 kills and four blocks as Alaska Fairbanks (8-6, 2-4) earned just its second conference victory. The Nanooks also got 11 kills from Jessica Hill and 10 kills and six blocks from Erica Gage.

Northwest Nazarene (9-5, 3-3) received 14 kills each from Cammy Dranginis and Loni Evenson, 12 from Lindsay Forseth and 10 from Chelsea Pelton.

Statistically, the match was as close as the score. UAF outhit NNU .155 to .144. NNU had one more block (11-10) and both teams had 76 digs. The Nanooks did outscore the Crusaders 18-13 from the serving line, getting three more aces (8-5) and two fewer service errors (10-8).

After the teams split the first four games by margins of four, three, two and six, Fairbanks built 12-5 and 14-8 leads in the fifth game. NNU fought off four match points, before Thigpen eventually got the game-winner on her 18th kill of the night.

At the Connolly Center, Rachael Schurman led four players in double-figures with 19 kills and hit for a .516 percentage (19-3-31) as Central Washington (5-10 overall) improved to 4-2 in the GNAC. Schurman also had a team-best eight blocks.

The Wildcats also got a career-high 16 kills from Erin Norris (her third consecutive 16 kill match performance), 13 kills from Kady Try and a career-high 12 kills from Kayla Roof. Setter Maggie Olson had a career-high with 57 assists and libero Erika Stevens had 29 digs.

Nikole Thompson led Seattle (6-9, 3-4) with 17 kills and Libby Graff had 11. Josie Christiansen had six blocks to go along with her team-best .312 hitting percentage (7-2-16).

Three of the four games went down to the wire and Central won all three.

Trailing 29-28 and facing a game point, CWU scored the final three points, one on a kill by Schurman and two on blocks in which Schurman combined with Roof and Olson, respectively, to win Game 1.

The Redhawks scored 15 of the final 18 points and hit .436 in winning Game 2 as Thompson and Kelly Benson each had five kills in the contest.

But in Game 3, Try and Schurman got kills to snap a 29-29 tie. Schurman then had the game-winning kill for CWU in the final game.

Western Oregon, MSU Billings Remain Tied For First (9/22/07)

Western Oregon and Montana State Billings remained tied for first-place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball race Saturday with wins over Northwest Nazarene and Alaska Anchorage, respectively.

The Wolves (8-5 overall) got 15 kills from Stacey Bennett and a superb defensive effort holding Northwest Nazarene (9-4) to a season-low .030 attack percentage in a 30-22, 30-15, 30-16 win at Monmouth.

Meanwhile, Devon Crotteau had 23 kills and Alicia Cazemier had 20 as the Yellowjackets (11-3) completed a sweep of their Alaska road trip with a 31-29, 30-17, 27-30, 30-25 win at Alaska Anchorage.

Western Washington (8-4) stayed just one-half match back of the co-leaders with a 30-18, 28-30, 30-21, 30-28 win at Central Washington behind a GNAC and WWU school record 50 dig performance by Courtney Schneider.

Schneider broke her own conference and school record of 49 digs as the Vikings held their arch-rivals to a season-low .061 hitting percentage and snapped CWU's three-match win streak.

Seattle Pacific (8-5) swept past Saint Martin's, 30-20, 30-23, 30-25 to move into a three-way tie for fourth place with NNU and CWU. All three teams are 3-2 in the conference race.

In the final match of the evening, Seattle University (6-8) leveled its conference record at 3-3 with a 26-30, 30-19, 30-25, 25-30, 15-9 win at Alaska Fairbanks.

In addition to Bennett's15 kills, Western Oregon got 11 kills, four of its eight aces and 13 digs from Kayla Mainer, who helped the Wolves hold NNU 192 points below its season attack percentage.

The Crusaders came into the match ranked second in the conference in hitting percentage (.222) and had been held below .200 just five times. Its previous season low was .112 against UC San Diego on Aug. 31.

Haley Kostrba had 14 digs, Claire Carpenter had 13 digs and Sharon Peterson had three blocks to join Mainer in the defensive effort as WOU held NNU to just 30 kills.

Cammy Dranginis was the only player in double figures for Northwest Nazarene with 11 kills. She also participated in three of the Crusaders' five blocks. Jackie Bourdon had 13 digs.

Cazemier hit for a .359 percentage (20-6-39) as Montana State Billings won its fifth consecutive conference match since losing its GNAC opener to NNU.

In addition to Cazemier and Crotteau, Jennifer Boe was in double figures for the Yellowjackets with 14 kills. Setter Stefania Aladjova had a career-high 57 assists and a team-best four aces.

Crotteau with 19 digs and Boe and Nicole Kruse with 14 each paced the MSUB defense. Jessica Lechner also contributed defensively with five blocks, while Crotteau had four.

Rhea Cardwell led Alaska Anchorage (4-7 overall), which nearly matched MSUB's .211 attack percentage hitting .203, with 19 kills and 19 digs.

The Seawolves, who fell to 0-5 in conference after winning four of their six non-conference matches, also got 12 kills from Joanna Johnson and 10 from Kim Stolk. Jessica Morehouse had nine and a .600 percentage.

In addition to Cardwell's 19 digs, UAA got 12 digs from Cristal Negron and seven blocks from Stolk.

MSUB jumped to a 2-0 lead getting kills from Boe and Cazemier to snap a 29-29 tie in the opener, then vaulting to a 7-0 lead and hitting at a .432 pace to win Game 2.

After losing the third game, MSUB broke out of an 18-18 tie to win the fourth contest.

Jaime Anderson had 20 kills and Schneider moved into 11th place on the NCAA's Division II career dig list with 2,177, extending her GNAC record streak of consecutive matches with 10 or more digs to 62.

The Vikings nearly tripled Central's hitting percentage (.179 to .061) getting 18 blocks, including 10 by Angie Alvord. Alvord, who also had 12 kills, had two solo blocks and eigh