Friday, December 10, 2021

TAMPA, Fla. – The magical run for Western Washington finished one match short of the mountaintop Friday as the No. 2 seeded Vikings dropped a four-set battle to No. 3 seeded Washburn in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championships Friday at the Bob Martinez Athletic Center.

A night after posting a season-high .435 hitting percentage, the Vikings found themselves challenged by an Ichabods’ squad that match WWU both in hitting and at the net. Western Washington finished the night with a .150 hitting percentage and 11 team blocks. Washburn hit .240 for the match and committed just one attack error in the decisive fourth set.

“Congratulations to Washburn. They played a hell of a match,” said WWU head coach Diane Flick Williams. “They really pushed us to the limit. We had our moments where we were able to battle pretty hard and I was really happy with the way our team played. I told the team in the locker that ‘we might just be a final four team and that’s not too bad.’ Four teams get to this moment and tomorrow only two get to play. So when we get back to home and start competing for next year we will keep in mind what we need to do to get into that final match.”

Junior outside hitter Gabby Gunterman led the Vikings with a double-double of 11 kills and 10 digs while outside hitter Calley Heilborn notched her 21st double-double of the season with 10 kills and 21 digs. Sophomore setter Malia Aleaga finished with 35 assists while junior middle blocker Chloe Roetcisoender led the way with five blocks.

Allison Maxwell led four Washburn players to finish in double figures in kills with 15. Kelsey Gordon added 14 kills with a .585 hitting percentage. Genna Berg had a double-double of 12 kills and 15 digs while setter Allison Sadler just missed a double-double with 50 assists and nine digs.

With the loss, Western Washington ends the season with a 25-5 record and saw a winning streak of 20 matches come to a close. In four national appearances in the national tournament’s round of eight, the Vikings have advanced to the semifinals all four times.

Washburn (31-5) will face the winner of the second semifinal match between Tampa and Gannon in the national championship match on Saturday at 5 p.m. (Eastern).

Early in the first set, it looked like the match might be a carbon copy of Thursday’s quarterfinal with the Vikings launching out to the 4-1 lead on a Gunterman kill and an attack error. Washburn bounced back to take the 8-7 lead on a Vikings’ attack error and eventually built a 14-10 advantage on Taylor Antonowich’s service ace. Western brought the deficit to within 22-21 on a Tess Biscup kill and within 24-23 on Gunterman’s fourth kill of the set before Sydney Fitzgibbons closed it out for the 25-23 win.

Washburn bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and went on to build a commanding 16-6 lead on a Berg kill. The Ichabods’ lead was 22-9 before Western Washington strung together some runs to challenge late. A Heilborn kill started a three-point run to close WWU within 23-12 and then capitalized on a pair of attack errors to put together a four-point run that made it a 23-16 set. A Washburn service error started a five-point run at the end of the set before Maxwell’s kill capped the 25-21 win.

The second-set rally seemed to breathe new life into the Vikings in the third set. While the Ichabods opened up a 4-1 lead to open the frame, WWU bounced back to take a 9-8 lead on a four-point run that was buoyed by two Gunterman kills. Washburn took the lead right back, going up 18-13 on Berg’s kill before a four-point run and a three-point rally knotted the set at 20-20.

A pair of Olivia Fairchild kills set WWU up for the win at 24-21, but the Ichabods came back to win the next four points and threaten to sweep the match. Gunterman responded with a kill at 25-25 and the teams traded the next four rallies before a block by Fairchild and Heilborn and a Roetcisoender service ace clinched the 29-27 Vikings’ win.

The fourth set was all Ichabods as they allowed Western Washington just one point off its own serve. Washburn opened up the 9-5 lead on a block by Maxwell and Gordon and went up 15-7 on a WWU attack error. The Ichabods’ surge continues late as Gordon contributed two kills and a block to close it out, including the final kill of the match.

While the disappointment of the loss stings, the Vikings had plenty to look forward to. Western Washington loses just one player from the 2021 squad and will welcome six redshirts to the court for 2022 and a team that returns its talented core.

“The cool thing about this situation is that we have so much room to grow,” Roetcisoender said following the match. “This is not the best that our team is going to be and I know that this will carry us into the off-season. We are going to train so hard and become the best team that we can be.”