BELLINGHAM, Wa  – Simon Fraser University lost in four sets to the Western Washington University Vikings Tuesday night at the Whatcom Community College Pavilion, dropping the Clan to 2-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
The Clan started out strong winning the first set 25-21, but failed to keep the momentum going losing the next three sets 16-25, 19-25, 13-25.
 
WWU, 11-2 overall, remained at No. 15 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll and leads the GNAC with a 5-0 record. SFU sits seventh in the GNAC.
 
Opening up the match for SFU was Jayme Bratsberg to serve who enabled the team to take an initial lead. Wasting no time, the Clan pushed forward point by point, eventually taking an 18-10 lead over the Vikings. Four kills by Sophomore Christine Howlett followed by three by outside hitter Jesse Young helped bring the Clan to a 24-21 lead where middle blocker Madison Power had the game-winning kill to close the set at 25-21.
 
Momentum changed in set two when the Vikings took control right out of the gate. With an initial 7-3 lead, WWU continued to dominate thanks to a 10-point serving run by Arielle Turner bringing the Vikings up to 15-5. With kills by Western's Jennica McPherson on the right side and Abby Phelps, WWU took the set at a quick 25-16.
 
The ten-minute intermission proved rejuvenating for the Clan as they came out fighting in the third set. SFU played a close point for point game with the Vikings taking a 13-10 lead thanks to a kill from the left side redshirt freshman Lauren Fridman. From that point on, Western wasn't going to let the Clan have the set and went on yet another serving run that enabled them to gain a five-point gap in the score at 20-15. SFU fought to get back into the set with kills from Power and Howlett, but weren't successful and lost 19-25.
 
Two sets down, SFU allowed a slow start in the fourth set to determine the match outcome. The Vikings took the game 25-13 and the match three sets to one.
 
"WWU is a good team and they outplayed us tonight," said Clan head coach Gina Schmidt.  "We got stuck in too many serve receive rotations and that ultimately hurt us."
 
Right side attacker Christine Howlett lead the Clan with 11 digs followed by Tessa May and Jessica Young with 10 and 8, respectively. Libero Alison McKay led defensively with 33 digs and Tamara Nipp had 20 assists.
 
The Clan takes on the Montana State University Billings Yellow Jackets this Saturday and play their next home game October 8th against Western Oregon University in West Gym at 7:00 PM.
 
--@SFUClan--