Outside hitter Marlayna Geary had a match-high 24 kills and a career-high 30 digs as Western Washington rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat Western Oregon 23-25, 21-15, 25-19, 25-20, 15-8 Saturday in a GNAC volleyball match at the New P.E. Gymnasium in Monmouth.
Geary's kill total equals a GNAC season-high. Kristyn Ross of Saint Martin's has had 24 kills twice this season.
The Vikings (6-2, 4-0) and Seattle Pacific (7-3, 2-0), which beat Northwest Nazarene, 25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-17, are now the only remaining unbeaten teams in conference play as the Wolves (4-4, 3-1) sustained their first loss against WWU.
Elsewhere Saturday, Alaska Anchorage (6-5, 2-1) swept past winless Alaska Fairbanks (0-11, 0-3) by 27-25, 25-21, 25-13 scores.
Central Washington (7-4, 2-2) and Saint Martin's (3-5, 2-2) also won by 3-0 margins. The Wildcats beat MSU Billings, 25-9, 25-15, 25-15 in 67 minutes.
The Saints outscored Simon Fraser, 25-20, 25-20, 25-18 as the Clan (0-8, 0-4) remained without a victory.
Middle blocker Emily Jepsen had 13 kills and five block assists and libero Samantha Hutchinson had a match-high 32 assists in Western Washington's victory.
“When we were sputtering, she was the light that we all followed to pull ourselves out of it,” said WWU coach Diane Flick of Geary's performance.
“Her stats were incredible, but her heart and composure say so much more. This is what Marlayna can do.”
WOU, which had a four-match winning streak snapped, was paced by Danielle Reese with 17 kills and 12 digs and Corynn Kopra with 13 kills and 20 digs. Samantha Ward also was in double figures with 16 kills.
WWU led by five points on two occasions in the first set (10-5 and 14-9) but the Wolves went on an 11-4 run to take a 20-18 lead and the Vikings never could get closer than one after that. Reese had seven kills for WOU.
The Vikings again took a 14-9 lead, but WOU came back and following five ties and a one-point deficit (21-20), the Wolves scored five straight points to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
In the third set, WWU used a 12-2 run for an 18-8 lead and never led by less than five points. WWU fell behind 18-15 in the fourth set before a 10-2 run on five kills by Geary tied the match at 2-2. The Vikings never trailed in the deciding fifth set.
Seattle Pacific got 17 kills from Lindsey Wodrich, 14 from Paige Hoffman and 12 from Nikki Lowell in its four-set victory.
SPU outhit Northwest Nazarene .220 to .142 as Shelby Swanson directed the offense, earning 52 assists. Anna Herold led the Falcon defense with 30 digs.
Swanson needs just 95 more assists to become the 21st member of the GNAC 2000 assist club.She currently ranks 26th on the GNAC all-time list.
Kaitlyn Tuholski had 11 kills and 11 assists and Becky Flores had four blocks for the Crusaders (4-4, 2-2).
Robyn Burton had 11 kills and five blocks in Alaska Anchorage's victory. The Seawolves were also led by Jackie Matthisen with eight kills and Miranda Doing with five blocks.
Keri Knight and Simone Chavous each had seven kills for Alaska Fairbanks, which were outhit by its state rivals .183 to .087.
Meg Ryan had 10 kills and Emmy Dolan and Erin Smith hit for .400 percentages in Central Washington's victory. Dolan didn't make an error in swinging at a .429 clip (6-0-14), while Smith hit for a .421 percentage (9-1-19).
CWU held Montana State Billings (6-5, 0-2) to a minus .011 percentage (17-18-95). Melissa Porter led the 'Jackets with six kills.
Katy Ferguson led Saint Martin's with nine kills and Kristyn Ross had eight kills and nine digs. SMU also got seven kills and three aces from Kristeen Juarez.
The Saints had a total of 14 services aces as Brianna Bautista and Halee Hernandez also had three. Cheryl Windhorst led Simon Fraser with seven kills.
