Western Washington volleyball began the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season losing five straight matches and 15 straight sets. The Vikings hosted the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks and lost 3-2 (25-18, 15-25, 21-25, 25-22, 13-15).
“I was really happy with the fact that we battled until the end,” coach Diane Flick-Williams said. “We had some struggles on our side of the net. The difference between their score and ours was errors but we are on the right trajectory.”
The Vikings had 21 attacking errors and 10 service errors while the Nanooks had 20 attacking errors and eight service errors. Yet, the Vikings broke their losing set streak within the first 30 minutes of the night.
Devyn Oestreich and Abby May gave the Vikings an early 2-0 lead. Oestreich led the Vikings in kills (14), aces (five) and digs (17). Although the Nanooks tied the first set a couple of times, Western held strong. The Vikings took the momentum when they scored seven straight points to make it 16-10.
During that stretch, Hayli Tri and Delaney Speer had two kills while May had one kill. Alaska Fairbanks slowly climbed back into the set, but a kill from Tri and an attacking error from the Nanooks secured the first set.
Alaska Fairbanks bounced back and dominated the second set down the middle of the court. The Nanooks had two separate five-point streaks, led by middle blocker Elizabeth Jackson with six kills in the set. She finished the match with 11 kills.
“That is a typical adjustment for Fairbanks,” Flick-Williams said. “When they want to make an adjustment, they try to go through the middle more but I also think that was a result of taking our foot off the gas on our serves.”
The Vikings had five attacking errors and a service error in the set.
The Nanooks started slow in the third set, giving the Vikings a 7-3 lead from three attacking errors and a service error. Oestreich also earned an ace during the run. Alaska Fairbanks won nine of the next 10 points to take a 12-8 lead. Although the Nanooks never led more than five points, Western struggled to even the score in the third set.
“When we were too conservative, we let them back in,” Flick-Williams said. “Fairbanks is a great team that also throws punches. We got to make sure we spar and throw punches at the right time.”
Western’s offense was revamped in the fourth set. May rifled her attacks through double teams and led the squad with four kills in the set. Western took the fourth set when it went on a 10-2 run to make it 17-11. The Nanooks pushed the Vikings to the wire but a ball sailing over the line pushed it into the fifth set.
The fifth set came down to the final point. Alaska Fairbanks held a 13-9 lead but Western scored four straight to make it 13-13. The Nanooks took the final two points with a Western service error and Nanooks Ainsley Smith’s and Josie Jansen’s block.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
