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Sept. 1, 2012

Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Outside hitter Marlayna Geary (Sr., Tacoma/Bellarmine) had a match-high 16 kills as Western Washington University swept Missouri University of Science and Technology in 67 minutes, 25-17, 25-15, 25-21 on Saturday at the three-day Western Oregon University Invitational Volleyball Tournament held at the New P.E. Building on the WOU campus.

The Vikings improved to 4-0, winning all four of their matches at the tournament. Missouri S&T fell to 0-4.

"I'm really pleased with what we did this weekend," said WWU head coach Diane Flick (13th year, 253-70). "We set the bar really high for ourselves. The things we worked on in the preseason showed up on the court and now what we have to do is keep getting better and better. We have to keep thinking that there is more to achieve. I think we have the right mindset going into the second week."

Geary, who upped her career kill total to 1,017, also had 11 digs, running her consecutive double-doubles streak to five, including the final match of last year. She finished with just two errors in 30 attempts for a hitting percentage of .467.

"Another double-double and she hit well over .400 today," Flick said. "She's had to carry a big load for us, but to her credit she's kept working on trying to get better and hitting more shots so that she could add a lot more variety to her game."

Middle blocker Kayla Erickson (Sp/. Gig Harbor/Peninsula) had 10 kills and a match-high six blocks for the Vikings, and libero Samantha Hutchinson (So., University Place/Curtis) had a match-high 16 digs.

Contributing a match-best 37 assists, along with seven digs, three block assists, two kills and one service ace was setter Laurie Yearout (Sr., Spokane/Lewis & Clark).

"I think Laurie is the one who is really leading the offense to get these great hitting numbers," said Flick, whose team hit .369 against Missouri S&T.

In the first set, WWU gradually pulled ahead for the win. The Vikings used a 10-2 run to lead 12-4 in taking the second set and scored five of the last seven points after being tied at 20-all in the third set.

Geary finished the tourney with 59 kills and an attack percentage of .356, 50 digs, five aces and three blocks.

WWU, tabbed as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches favorite, opened its season Thursday with victories over Florida Southern (25-19, 25-27, 25-17, 25-18) and Cal State L.A. (25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 29-31, 15-9). On Friday, the Vikings swept Grand Valley State (25-14, 25-22, 25-12).

WWU competes in the Sonoma State University Invitational Tournament this weekend, meeting UC San Diego (11:15 a.m.) and Cal State Stanislaus (3:45 p.m.) on Friday and Chico State (1:30 p.m.) and the host Seawolves (7 p.m.) on Saturday. UC San Diego was ranked No.17 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Preseason Coaches Top 25 Poll and Sonoma State No.24.