Middle blocker Emily Jepsen had a match-high 23 kills and hit for a .613 percentage as Western Washington overcame a slow start and defeated Alaska Fairbanks, 33-31, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17, Thursday at Sam Carver Gymnasium.
The 25th ranked Vikings (7-2, 5-0) stayed unbeaten in the GNAC with the win as did 15th ranked Seattle Pacific (8-3, 3-0), which swept past Western Oregon, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22.
Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings also recorded victories. The Seawolves (7-5, 3-1) kept Simon Fraser (0-9, 0-5) winless defeating the Clan, 26-24, 25-16, 25-19.
Northwest Nazarene (5-4, 3-2) overcame a first-set loss to defeat Central Washington, 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-22. MSUB (7-5, 1-2) outlasted Saint Martin's, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 15-8.
Western Washington recorded its fifth straight win and its 13th consecutive home victory before a crowd of 911.
Alaska Fairbanks (0-12, 0-4) gave the Vikings a battle in the first two sets. The 33-31 opening set was the longest WWU had played since the move to 25-point sets prior to the 2009 season.
There were a total of 12 ties before the Vikings finally closed the frame out on consecutive kills by outside hitter Marlayna Geary, who finished the match with 21 kills.
But UAF then claimed the second set, the first time WWU had lost a set at home this season.
The Nanooks trailed by as much as five points before breaking away from a 22-22 tie getting kills by Keri Knight, Simone Chavous and Karlee Skalla to even the match.
The Vikings asserted control in the final two sets, never trailing in either frame except at 1-0 in the fourth set. WWU ran off 11 of the final 13 points in the third set, and seven of the last eight in the fourth.
Jepsen's 23 kills came with just four errors in 31 attempts. Setter Laurie Yearout had a solid all-around match with 55 assists, 11 digs, five kills in eight errorless attempts and three blocks. Middle blocker Bailey Jones added a match-high seven blocks.
Alaska Fairbanks was led by Chavous with 14 kills and Skalla with 12. Skalla and Casey Tidwell each had four blocks.
Lindsey Wodrich had 14 kills and Shelby Swanson racked up 34 assists in Seattle Pacific's victory.
Wodrich hit at a .333 clip (14-5-27) as did middle blocker Nikki Lowell (7-2-15). Libero Anna Herold and Angie Pricco led the Falcon defense with 20 digs and four blocks, respectively.
Western Oregon (4-5, 3-2) was led by Danielle Reese with 16 kills and Corynn Kopra with 10. Megan Triggs had 14 digs.
The Falcons outhit WOU .357 to .135 to win the first set, then had a .281 to .194 advantage in winning the second set. They completed the sweep despite being outhit .133 to .068 in the third set.
Middle blocker Robyn Burton had 16 kills and four blocks to power Alaska Anchorage to its victory.
The Seawolves also got 10 kills from outside hitter Jackie Matthisen as they recorded their third straight sweep for the first time since late in the 2009 campaign.
Middle blocker Kristjana Fridfinnson led SFU with nine kills, which jumped to a 13-6 lead in the opening set.
UAA overcame its early deficit with an 8-point rally behind Matthisen's serve, getting kills from Nikkie Viotto and Nora Anders along the way.
After a Burton kill put UAA ahead 23-20, SFU responded with three straight points, leading to a Seawolf timeout. Anders, a freshman right-side hitter, then traded kills with Fridfinnson before Viotto and Matthisen gave UAA the set with consecutive kills.
The Seawolves jumped to a 7-1 lead in the second set and slowly pulled away in the third to complete the sweep.
Burton, who entered as the GNAC's attack percentage leader at .387, had another sterling performance, ripping her 16 kills in just 22 attempts.
Her .591 percentage (16-3-22) marked the sixth time in 12 matches this year that she has hit .500 or better.
The Seawolves also got a lift with the return of setter Kimya Jafroudi, who had missed the previous two matches with a leg-muscle strain. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native tallied a match-high 27 assists and a team-best eight digs.
Haley Abbott led four players in double figures in Northwest Nazarene's win at the Johnson Sports Center.
Abbott recorded a team-high 16 kills. Kaitlyn Tuholski had 11 kills and 30 assists and both Carly Dranginis and Becky Flores had 10 kills.
Jordan Offutt led the Wildcats (8-5, 2-3) with a match-high 17 kills and Cheltzie Williams had 14. Carlee Marble had 42 assists.
Monica Grimsrud had 17 kills and Melissa Porter had 14 kills and seven blocks in MSU Billings' five-set victory. Both players were efficient as Grimsrud hit .279 (17-5-43) and Porter swung at a .321 rate (14-5-28).
The Yellowjackets were also led by Nicole Davey with 10 kills and Chelsey Walter with nine. Brooke Tolman had 57 assists and Morgan Moss earned a GNAC season-best 40 digs.
Saint Martin's (3-7, 2-3) got team-highs of 16 kills and 27 digs from Kristyn Ross, 11 kills and five blocks from Katy Ferguson and 10 kills from Nysa Allen. Cymbree Decosta had 46 assists.
