BELLINGHAM, Wash. - No. 11 Western Washington used early runs to defeat Saint Martin's in three sets (25-10, 25-17, 25-21) in a GNAC conference road match on Thursday night.

Western Washington (14-3, 8-1) used a 15-4 run to open up the first set on the Saints (7-10, 2-7). The Vikings continued to control the first set, cruising to a 25-10 set victory with 15 kills on .382 hitting percentage. 

The second set opened with a 12-5 run in favor of the Vikings before a kill from Liz Larson sparked the Saints into a 4-1 run, supplied with a kill from Rebecca Mitchell and a service ace from Nicolette Nesbitt. Western Washington extended their lead to 19-11 until the Saints responded with kills from Mitchell and Gondrezick to bring score to within five. The Vikings held off the Saints' attack in the closing points of the set to win 25-17.

In the final set, Western Washington continued the trend of early runs, leading off the set with eight of the first nine points. The Saints chipped away at the score until the lead was 13-9 with blocks from Gondrezick, Megan Vernoy and Brooklynn Tacke. The Vikings repealed the Saints' comeback with a 6-2 run to extend their lead to 19-11. Saint Martin's responded once again with five straight points, highlighted by kille from Kamille Langford, Mitchell and Nesbitt. The Saints cut the lead to as little as two in the final set before Western Washington wrapped up the victory at 25-21. 

"Western is the #11 team in the nation for a reason," said head coach Jon Killingbeck. "They are a very good passing team and we struggled early to break them down. We did fight well in set three but we have to do our jobs earlier."

Rebecca Mitchell led the Saints with nine kills, and in the final set, reached 700 career kills, a milestone only five Saints have reached in school history. Vernoy and Gondrezick combined for 12 kills while Jordan Keane led the team with 11 assists and Hannah Neumann recorded 16 digs.

The Saints finish the road trip with a match north of the border against Simon Fraser on Saturday, October 14. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.