Western Washington University volleyball lost a narrow, five-set match (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 18-25, 10-15) to Saint Martin’s University on Thursday, Oct. 12 at Carver Gymnasium.
The Vikings, hosting Saint Martin’s (11-6, 5-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) in a league contest, were unable to finish the Saints after winning the first two sets. Western (5-11, 5-3 GNAC) dropped the final three sets to the Saints, losing its second consecutive full-length match.
In the first set, Western fed off the home crowd’s energy. There were 1,217 fans in attendance for Student Appreciation Night. Western hopped out to a 4-0 lead and kept the Saints at arm’s length, winning the first frame, 25-22. Junior outside hitter Gabby Kepley totaled six kills in the first set alone. The Vikings entered the match without starting libero Finnley Claeys, who was unable to play due to illness.
“We had Abby May step in the libero position, which is a little different for her, but she did a great job,” said Western assistant coach James Suh. Diane Flick-Williams, the Vikings’ head coach, was unavailable for comment postgame.
The sophomore May was steady, finishing the night with 17 digs and only two serve-receive errors in a five-set contest.
Western brought stout team defense into the second set. The Vikings hopped out to another small lead, forcing Saint Martin’s coach Dan Behnke to call an early timeout. The Saints responded and kept the set set close.
A couple of missed serves by Saint Martin’s and some timely kills allowed Western to pull away and take a 2-0 lead. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Emily Vossenkuhl finished off the set with a monster kill from a slide set.
With all the momentum, Western looked to be poised to put the Saints away in straight sets. Saint Martin’s had other ideas.
“We tried to adjust our gameplan, and we didn’t execute it the way we wanted to,” Suh said of the third set.
Saint Martin’s came out firing, going up 10-5 and prompting Flick-Williams to use a timeout.
Western stole back the momentum and took the lead at 17-16, allowing the Vikings a chance to put the game away, but the Saints responded again. Western dropped the set 25-22.
The strong start by Western gave the team another set to win the game without feeling the pressure. Vikings captain Devyn Oestreich came out firing, getting five kills in Western’s first 13 points.
The hot start to the set wasn’t enough as Western dropped the fourth set 25-17, and the Vikings’ captains met in the middle ahead of the tense fifth set.
Carver Gym’s packed crowd once again brought the energy, but Western had dug itself a hole. The team went down 6-3 and had to use one of two timeouts for the set.
Western conceded three more points following the timeout. The team refused to quit and fought back to 12-10 in the final game of 15. Saint Martin’s hung on to win the match, 3-2.
“Hopefully this is a learning experience that we can get better from,” Suh said after the loss.
Western started the year slow, losing all eight non-conference games against tough opponents. Six of the eight losses were against nationally ranked teams. The young Vikings, who have one senior on the roster, responded well and won five out of their seven GNAC matches leading into the match with Saint Martin’s.
Western will look to bounce back when it hosts Western Oregon University (8-8, 2-6 GNAC) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14.
