Volleyball | 11/5/2013 11:25:00 PM

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University volleyball team travels to Western Washington University and Simon Fraser University Thursday and Saturday for its next matches.

The Wolves (8-14, 5-7 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) ride into the road trip as winners of three of their last four matches. WOU has six regular season matches left on its schedule, and is currently sixth in the conference standings.

Western Oregon Becky Blees is three block assists shy of breaking the Great Northwest Athletic Conference career record. The senior has amassed 365 blocking assists since 2010, and needs just two to equal Cammy Dranginis' four-year-old record. Blees has a conference-best 104 block assists this season, and is averaging 1.18 blocks per set, which is fifth in the GNAC. She is also third all-time in the conference in career total blocks.

Last Saturday, Blees had eight kills with a .438 attack percentage in the Wolves' four-set loss at home to Alaska-Anchorage. Jordin Ramos had a double-double with 14 assists and 10 digs. Megan Triggs and Kelsie Christensen added 28 and 10 digs.

Western Washington (17-3, 10-2 GNAC) holds a 25-14 all-time advantage over Western Oregon in a series that dates back to 1988. The Wolves have not in Bellingham since 1999, falling in 13 straight matches.

The No. 10 Vikings won the first meeting this season in three sets in Monmouth. Western Washington's Kayla Erickson finished with a match-high 12 kills and a .333 attack percentage. Taylor Dillard had all 37 assists. Samantha Hutchinson had 20 digs. Bryce Larson and Jennica McPherson added 11 and 10. Erickson and Emily Boerger were both in on four blocks.

The match featured 10 ties and four lead changes. Charene O'Hara led Western Oregon with eight kills. Blees hit .200 with seven kills. Ramos had a double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs. Triggs had a team-high 17 digs. Hannah Deede had a pair of service aces.

Saturday, the Wolves travel to Burnaby, B.C., for a matchup with Simon Fraser (9-9, 4-8). The Clan has lost three straight matches.
Western Oregon has won 19 of the 20 all-time meetings. The Clan picked up its first victory over WOU all-time in the last meeting between the programs. SFU won the four-set match in Monmouth earlier this season.

Devon May led Simon Fraser with 15 kills as the Clan had four players finish with double-digit kills. WOU managed to post 10 team blocks on the night, with Samantha Moore leading the way with five. Triggs added 17 digs to lead the Wolves. Blees led the WOU attack in the loss, hitting .500 for the contest while posting 18 kills as the Wolves hit .267 as a team.

Both Thursday's and Saturday's matches begin at 7 p.m. Both will have live video and stats available on WOUWolves.com.