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Sept. 11, 2009

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Freshman outside hitter Marlayna Geary (Tacoma/Bellarmine Prep) had a match-high 17 kills, leading nationally ranked Western Washington University to a 25-10, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18 victory over Grand Canyon University on Friday to complete second-day action in the Viking Invitational Volleyball Tournament on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings, ranked No.24 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, improved to 7-3. Grand Canyon, which lost to Seattle Pacific earlier in the day, fell to 6-2.

After Western took two of the first three sets, Grand Canyon looked poised to extend the match by taking a 12-7 lead in the fourth set. But the Vikings ran off nine straight points behind the serve of Haleigh Adkins (So., Puyallup/Rogers) to take a 16-12 lead, and pulled away from there to close out the match.

Middle blocker Emily Jepsen (So., Kennewick/Kamiakin) had 10 kills and a match-high seven blocks for Western, with four of the blocks being solo efforts. She had six of her kills in the opening set, when Western had 16 kills and just one error in 28 attempts for a .536 attack percentage.

Outside hitter Caelen Hiller led Grand Canyon with 13 kills, five of them as the Antelopes won the second set. The match was tied at 10-10 before the Vikings committed six straight hitting errors to give Grand Canyon a 16-10 lead, and the Antelopes never led by less than three points after that.

Western never trailed in the third set, closing the frame out with back-to-back kills by middle blocker Bailey Jones (Fr., Mukilteo/Kamiak).

The eight-team tournament concludes Saturday with six matches, beginning at 9 a.m. The Vikings conclude the tourney by meeting No.7-ranked West Texas A&M at 7 p.m.

West Texas A&M won twice Thursday to improve to 9-2 overall, defeating Central Washington in five sets and Western Oregon in four. In other tournament action Thursday, Western Oregon beat Notre Dame de Namur in four sets, Seattle Pacific swept Grand Canyon in three, and Central Washington toppled NDNU in three sets.