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Sept. 4, 2009

Box Score

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Playing with more intensity than earlier in the day, Western Washington University fell to unbeaten Sonoma State University, 24-26, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22, in a battle of nationally ranked teams Friday evening to close out the Central Washington University Invitational Volleyball Tournament.

The Vikings, ranked No.21 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, fell to 5-3. No.24-rated Sonoma State is now 8-0.

In a morning match, Western was swept 25-14, 25-23, 25-12, by Academy of Art, which improved to 5-2.

The Vikings, who opened the tourney Thursday with sweeps of Walla Walla and Brigham Young Hawaii, had two players named to the all-tournament team - outside hitter Marlayna Geary (Fr., Tacoma/Bellarmine Prep) and libero Allison Gotz (Jr., Bothell/Archbishop Murphy).

"We were a tale of two teams today (Friday)," said Western coach Diane Flick, "and I liked the one that ended way more than the one that started this morning. If we come out with the same effort we did tonight, we can do great things."

Middle blockers Emily Jepsen (So., Kennewick/Kamiakin) and Kathryn Mertens (Jr., Olympia) had 11 and 10 kills (.368 attack percentage), respectively, to pace the Vikings. Geary contributed eight kills and 14 digs and Gotz had 17 digs.

Sonoma State got a match-high 22 kills from Keala Peterson, with teammate Allyson Sather just one behind at 21.

There were 10 ties and six lead changes in the first set, Jepsen putting Western ahead for good, 25-24, with a kill, followed by a Seawolf attack error.

The Vikings stayed close to Sonoma State for much of the remaining three sets. They led 17-16 in set two, were tied 17-17 in set three and trailed by just one, 23-22, in set four.

"A young team like this is going to have growing pains," Flick said. "Today we experienced some good ones and we experienced some bad ones. The key is that over time we continue to get better."

In the loss to AAU, Western had an attack percentage of just .048 with 26 kills in 104 attempts and 21 errors. It was the second lowest figure in the 10 years that Flick has directed the program.

Dan Yang led the Urban Knights with a match-high 24 kills, hitting .487, and Jelena Jakovljevic had a match-high 20 digs and eight kills.

In the first set, Western trailed by just four points, 15-11, before Yang led a 10-3 AAU run with three kills.

The second set featured 10 ties, the last being 23-23, when an attack error and a kill by Yang sealed it for the Urban Knights. UAA never trailed in the third set.

Western is home to host its own invitational on Sept. 10-12. In first-day action Thursday, the Vikings meet British Columbia at 11 a.m. and Notre Dame de Namur at 7 p.m.