BURNABY, B.C. -- The battle between the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's two nationally ranked volleyball teams Saturday in Burnaby did not disappoint.

The contest between host and No. 20 Simon Fraser (6-2, 0-1 GNAC) and 17th-ranked Western Washington (5-3, 1-0 GNAC) went the distance at the West Gym, with the visiting Vikings escaping with the 3-2 triumph, despite an incredible performance from SFU's Brooke Dexter.

The set scores were: 25-13, 19-25, 20-25, 25-23 and 15-9.

"Looking at the stats, we did outhit them, so in terms of our offence being able to do its job, I thought we did a good job there. Just a few unlucky bounces here and there. There were a lot positives to take away and we needed to find a couple more points here and there," said SFU head coach Gina Schmidt, whose squad played its first regular season home game since Nov. 16, 2019. "The team was very excited but maybe a bit overexcited in terms of trying to do too much, but then we settled down and got to how we normally play."

Dexter, a rookie right-side hitter from Anchorage, Alaska, had 27 kills on 63 total attacks (.333 hitting percentage). Julia Tays led the team with 50 assists and 16 digs, while Hanna Kolof recorded 12 kills and 14 digs.
 

A trio of WWU players reached double digits in kills, paced by Calley Heilborn's 15. Gabby Gunterman had 11 to go along with a game-high 17 digs, and four service aces, and Chloe Roetcisoender knocked down 10. Maia Aleaga dished out 47 assists.

The fifth set was tied 5-5 before the Vikings scored four consecutive points to gain some separation. SFU's Abby Willett broke the run with a kill, however, the home side could not cut into its deficit any further as the squads traded points until the Vikings clinched the win.

The visitors opened with a strong performance, recording three service aces in the first set, while holding SFU to a negative attacking percentage.

The hosts then roared back to take sets 2 and 3.

In the second, SFU lost the first three points before rolling to take seven of the next eight. Dexter provided five kills in the run, while Bianca Te served up a couple of aces. WWU closed to 10-9 but SFU had another mini-run to go up 15-10, before closing out the set 25-19.
 

The hosts used a late surge to take set 3. Down 14-13, Kolof knocked down a kill to start a 5-0 run to make it 18-14 for SFU. At 24-20, Dexter finished things off with a kill.

The fourth set was a rollercoaster, with the Vikings going on a 6-0 run to go ahead 22-16 before SFU did the same to tie the score at 22-22. Jocelyn Sherman provided a kill and a block as part of the run while Dexter had three kills. The Vikings called a timeout and were able to regroup to capture the next two points. SFU saved one set point but not the next as WWU forced a fifth-and-deciding set.

SFU resumes play next weekend with GNAC road games at Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) on Thursday, Sept. 23, and at Central Washington, Saturday, Sept. 25.

--@SFU_Athletics--