Thursday, December 2, 2021

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Western Washington and Simon Fraser met for the second straight time on Thursday. The result was no different.

Behind 17-kill performances by junior outside hitters Gabby Gunterman and Tess Biscup, the No. 2 seeded Vikings scored a four-set win over No. 7 seeded SFU in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II West Regional at Coussoulis Arena.

The matchup in the quarterfinals came 12 days after the two teams met in their final match of the regular season in Burnaby. The Vikings won that match in four sets and finished the season 3-0 over SFU, all in matches that went four or five sets.

Gunterman, the GNAC Player of the Year, finished with a double-double of 17 kills and 12 digs while Biscup posted a .312 hitting percentage as the Vikings won their 17th straight match. Junior middle blocker Olivia Fairchild added 11 kills and junior middle blocker Chloe Roetcisoender finished with 10 kills and a match-high four blocks.

Simon Fraser opposite Brooke Dexter, the GNAC Freshman of the Year, led all players with 23 kills and added 18 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Camryn Vosloh finished 14 kills, nine digs and three blocks while senior setter Julia Tays registered a double-double of 41 assists and 13 digs.

With the win, Western Washington (22-4) will face No. 6 seeded Central Washington in a semifinal match on Friday at 5 p.m. Simon Fraser sees its season end with a 17-9 overall record.

The Vikings used a pair of four-point runs to build a cushion early in the first half. An attack error and a Roetcisoender service ace helped WWU take the 10-5 lead while a Gunterman kill capped the second run for a 14-10 advantage. Simon Fraser rolled back to come within 15-14 on a Kalyn Hartmann block but would be unable to take the lead. Biscup’s fourth kill of the set put the Vikings ahead 23-19 and Gunterman’s sixth kill of the frame held off a late SFU rally for the win.

Western Washington owned a 14-9 lead in the second set before SFU turned their game up, allowing the Vikings just three points off their own serve from that point on. Simon Fraser took the lead on a five-point run, tying it on a Tay kills and going ahead on one of 10 Dexter kills in the set. Things were tied at 23-23 before Tays and Dexter combined for back-to-back kills to close it out.

The third set started close but would turn to the Vikings’ favor at the midway point. Simon Fraser held a 12-11 lead before a block by Fairchild and Calley Heilborn was the spark point for a nine-point run. Fairchild contributed three blocks while Biscup had a pair of kills before a Gunterman kill ended the run for a 20-12 lead. Simon Fraser slowly climbed back into the set and came to within four points before Heilborn’s kill won it for the Vikings.

It looked as though it would be a Vikings’ runaway early in the fourth set, opening up an 8-1 lead on a block by Gunterman and Roetcisoender. Simon Fraser would not go away, however, closing to within 12-8 on a Vosloh and then tying the frame with a five-point run that ended on two Jocelyn Sherman kills that made it 16-16. Western built the lead back to five, 22-16, on a Gunterman kill but SFU managed to tie things two more times before an attack error closed out the match in favor of the Vikings.