Volleyball Dig Pink game is Oct. 25

Returning home after three road matches over the last two weekends, the top 10 nationally ranked Western Washington University volleyball team entertains Montana State University Billings on Thursday, Oct. 23 (7 p.m.), and Seattle Pacific University on Saturday, Oct. 25 (7p.m.), in Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests at Sam Carver Gymnasium on theWWU campus.

The WWU-SPU match will be Dig Pink Night as part of the 2014 National Breast Cancer Awareness Rally.

Working on a season-best, five-match winning streak, the Vikings, which dropped one spot to No.10 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll. They are 15-5 overall and third in the GNAC standings at 8-2. Tied for first at 10-1 are Northwest Nazarene (17-2) and Alaska Anchorage (16-3).
WWU is coming off a four-set win Saturday at Simon Fraser after sweeping road matches two weeks ago over Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. Its win streak began at Carver Gym with four-set triumphs over No.18 Central Washington and No.19 NNU. Since Diane Flick became the WWU head coach in 2000, the Vikings are 124-15 at Carver Gym (.892).

First-team AVCA All-America libero Samantha Hutchinson (Sr., University Place/Curtis) is the NCAA II national statistical leader in both digs per set at 7.30 and total digs at 540. She tops the GNAC by well over one dig per set.

Hutchinson, the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons, ranks second among WWU leaders in career digs with 2,211 (6.58 avg. per set), trailing only Courtney Schneider (2004-07) at 2,695. Hutchinson ranked No.2 nationally in digs as a junior and No.5 as a sophomore.

Middle blocker Kayla Erickson (Sr., Gig Harbor/Peninsula), the 2013 GNAC Player of the Year and a second-team Daktronics All-American, tops the Vikings in kills (236, 3.19 avg.), attack percentage (.287) and blocks (73, 0.99). Her .339 career attack percentage ranks second among WWU leaders.

Erickson has already been both a GNAC Defensive and Offensive Player of the Week this season. She ranks fourth among GNAC leaders in attack percentage, seventh in kills and eighth in blocks.

Setter Kristina Tribley (R-Fr., Wenatchee) is third in the GNAC in assists per set at 10.63 (606).

Kelsey Moore (Sr., Bellevue/Newport) is averaging 3.09 kills per set (213), Rachel Roeder (Jr., Sammamish/Issaquah) 2.83 kills (204) and Joellee Buckner (R-Fr., Colville) has 53 blocks (0.75).

Flick has a 311-82 record in 15 seasons coaching at WWU. Averaging 20.7 wins per year, her win total and 79.1 winning percentage are both program bests. She ranks No.8 nationally in win percentage among DII coaches and has been named GNAC Coach of the Year eight times.

MSUB, which has lost four of its last five matches, is 10-9 overall and 5-6 in conference action. The Yellowjackets, who defeated WWU in five sets at Billings, Mont., on Sept. 27, had a 9-5 start. They are led by Chelsey Walter, who has a GNAC-leading .365 hitting percentage while averaging 3.16 kills per set and 0.70 blocks, and first-team GNAC all-star Monica Grimsrud, who is averaging 2.96 kills. Prior to the loss this season, the Vikings had won all 17 previous meetings with MSUB.

SPU, 11-8 overall and 5-6 in GNAC play, has won just two of its last eight matches following a 9-2 start. The Falcons, who play at Simon Fraser on Thursday, are paced by first-team GNAC all-star Madi Cavell, who ranks second among conference leaders in kills at 3.86.

WWU, which won in four sets at Seattle on Sept. 25, holds a 41-26 series advantage over the Falcons, but has prevailed in just six of the last 11 meetings.

The Vikings have won the last two GNAC titles and seven crowns in the history of the conference, which began in 2000-01. They finished 23-4 last fall and reached the first round of the NCAA II West Regional.

WWU, which was ranked No.9 nationally in the pre-season AVCA Poll, was the favorite in the 2014 GNAC Coaches pre-season poll, receiving eight of 10 first-place votes.

NOTES: WWU has had four winning streaks of three or more this season and has not dropped back-to-back matches this season ... The Vikings lead the GNAC in digs per set and rank fifth nationally at 20.11 ... WWU is 4-1 in matches against nationally ranked opponents this season. Besides the wins over Central and NNU, the Vikings defeated No.16 Sonoma State, 3-1, and No.11 UC San Diego, 3-1, before losing to No.8 Cal State San Bernardino, 3-2 ... Hutchinson was named GNAC Defensive Player of the Week for Sept. 14-20, the sixth weekly honor of her career, and Erickson was selected to the Central Washington Wildcat Invitational all-tournament team.