Box Score BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene University volleyball team was swept by Western Washington on Thursday in a battle for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship.

The Nighthawks (24-3, 16-3) needed to defeat the Vikings and then win again Saturday against Simon Fraser to win the conference title, but came up short in the 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 loss.

"WWU played great tonight," NNU coach Doug English said. "They blocked and dug a ton of balls which made it really hard on our offense. We will probably see them again in a couple of weeks and we are going to do what we always do – get better, see what worked and what didn't in order to be at our best next time."

Western Washington clinched a spot in the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships with the victory. NNU must finish in the top eight of the regional rankings to earn a spot in that tournament. The Nighthawks were ranked No. 2 in the latest poll.

The Vikings have won 16 matches in a row since losing to the Nighthawks on Sept. 16 in Nampa.

Kendra Bodine had 19 kills and 25 digs, while Madi Farrell added 11 kills. Hailey Cook had 38 assists and 14 digs, while Jacquelyn Johnson had 16 digs, Shayli Siegfried had 15 and Mari Thomas 14.