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Oct. 26, 2009

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - With its last opportunity to post a win over one of the two Great Northwest Athletic Conference front runners, the Western Washington University volleyball team entertains Seattle Pacific in a league counter Saturday (7 p.m.) on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings, 15-8 overall and third in the conference standings at 8-4, were swept by the Falcons on Sept. 30 at Seattle. Seattle Pacific, which is at Montana State Billings for a GNAC contest Thursday, is second in the GNAC at 8-2.

Western is coming off a disappointing four-set loss last Saturday at Alaska Anchorage, which took over the GNAC lead at 9-2. Earlier this season, the Vikings were beaten 3-2 by the Seawolves at Bellingham.

Western began its Alaska road trip last Thursday with a sweep of Alaska Fairbanks. The victory was the Vikings' fourth straight, matching their longest winning streak of the season. At Alaska Anchorage, Western won the first set, 25-8, before losing the next three.

Not ranked in the latest official NCAA Division II West Regional Poll, the Vikings' only chance of reaching the post-season is to win the GNAC title and gain an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. With four regular-season matches remaining, all of them league counters, they are 2-1/2 matches out of first.

Western middle blocker Emily Jepsen (So., Kennewick/Kamiakin) ranks second among league leaders in blocks at 1.11 as does setter Laurie Yearout (R-Fr., Spokane/Lewis & Clark) in assists at 10.42. Libero Allison Gotz (Jr., Bothell/Archbishop Murphy) is fourth in digs at 5.04 and outside hitter Marlayna Geary (Fr., Tacoma/Bellarmine Prep) is fifth in both kills at 3.83 and points at 4.04.

In last week's NCAA II national statistics, Geary ranked No.18 in kills per set, Gotz and Yearout, No.24 in digs and assists, respectively, and Jepsen No.40 in blocks.

In the win over Alaska Fairbanks, outside hitter Megan Amundson (Jr., Stanwood) had a team-leading 15 kills and Jepsen added 13 kills on .480 hitting and a match-high six blocks.

Seattle Pacific, which leads the GNAC in kills (13.38), assists (12.51) and opponent hitting percentage (.154), and is second in attack percentage (.213).

Western leads 35-22 in its series with the Falcons, has a four-match victory string snapped in the loss at Seattle.

Former Western All-American libero Nicola Parker is in her first season as the assistant coach at Seattle Pacific.

Notes: The Vikings are 133-19 all-time in GNAC matches, a winning percentage of .875 ... Three of Western's eight losses this season have been to American Volleyball Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Top 25-rated teams ... The Vikings have won four GNAC titles (2001-03, 2007) since the league began in 2001 and placed second last season ... Gotz, who received AVCA All-American honorable mention in 2008, and Geary were all-tourney picks at both the Southern California Classic and Central Washington Invitational to open the season ... Jepsen was the GNAC Player of the Week for Oct. 11-17 ... Western fell out of the AVCA Top 25 Poll after being listed in the preseason (23rd) ranking and the first two regular-season ratings (21st and 24th) ... The Vikings did not earn a berth in the national playoffs last year despite a 21-3 record after being the national runner-up in 2007 ... Diane Flick has a career record of 211-58, her .784 winning percentage ranking eighth among NCAA II active coaches ... Western is 6-3 on Haggen Court at Carver Gym this season where the Vikings have lost just 10 of 97 matches during Flick's 10 seasons as coach.