BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Oregon volleyball team saw its two-match win streak snapped on Thursday night as No. 17 Western Washington extended their own winning streak to 10 matches in a near wire-to-wire sweep of the Wolves. Set scores from Whatcom Pavilion were 15-25, 22-25, 19-25.
 
The Wolves fell to 8-12 overall and 5-8 in the GNAC while the Vikings improve to 15-6 overall and 11-2 in league play.
 
Sophomore Mariella Vandenkooy led the team with 12 kills (.222 hitting). Junior Alisha Bettinson fell three digs shy of a double-double with 10 kills and seven digs. Senior Paige Orth and sophomore Amanda Short added four kills each. Sophomore setter Maddie Mehciz did record a double-double for the Wolves with 30 assists and 11 digs. Senior libero Christie Colasurdo led three WOU players with 10 or more digs with 17. Mehciz and freshman Makenna Behrens each added 11 digs.
 
The Vikings trailed just once in the opening game at 1-0 after Vandenkooy put down the first ball of the match. WWU scored six in a row to take a 6-1 lead before Western Oregon charged back to trail 9-7. From that point on, the Vikings took control scoring 11 of the next 13 points for a 20-9 lead. Facing a tough comeback road, WOU scored six of the next seven points on kills by Vandenkooy and Short, an ace from Sheila Limas De La Cruz, a WOU attack error, and a combo block from Short and Orth to make it 21-15. WWU took the opening set scoring the final four points following a timeout to quell the WOU momentum. Vandenkooy led the Wolves with four kills in the first, as WOU was out-hit .238-.026.
 
Like the first set, the teams traded leads and tied scores with the Wolves taking 12-10 and 14-13 leads midway in the game after Vandenkooy kills. WWU's offense found open seams in the block to score their next eight points on kills, taking a 24-18 lead. Western Oregon was able to wipe away four game points via three Viking errors and a Bettinson service ace, but a kill from the middle from Kayleigh Harper gave host WWU a 2-0 lead in the match. Both teams hit better in the second with WWU holding a .275-.211 advantage.
 
In the third, the Vikings jumped out to a 4-0 lead and extended it out to 8-3. WOU scored three straight on kills from Mackenzie Bowen, Bettinson and Orth to close within two. Trailing by five, 12-7, a 4-0 Wolves run used two WWU errors to get within a point, 12-11, but would get no closer than two the rest of the way. The Vikings finished the sweep with a 25-19 victory. Bettinson recorded five kills in the third game, as the Wolves faced a .275-.174 hitting disadvantage.
 
Harper led Western Washington with 13 kills and Michaela Hall posted a .462 hitting percentage with seven kills.
 
Next up for the Wolves is a trip to Burnaby to take on Simon Fraser on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.