RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Northwest Nazarene University volleyball team fell two sets short of program history Friday night.

The Nighthawks (25-5) lost 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-23 to Western Washington in the NCAA Division II National Tournament West Region semifinals.

"We played hard, we played well – they just made a couple of plays at the end," NNU coach Doug English said. "I'm really proud of the effort we put in tonight, the last two nights, the last two weeks and the last two seasons. It's a bummer that we ran into a very good Western Washington team.

"You can control your effort, but not your results. We definitely gave everything we had this season and tonight."

The loss marks the end of another fantastic season for the Nighthawks, who tied the deepest advancement in an NCAA postseason tournament in program history.

"I'm just proud of the seniors where they came into this program and where they left," English said. "To be disappointed that we didn't win a second round national tournament match is an awesome place to be."

Senior Madi Farrell turned in a strong performance in the loss, recording 18 kills, a .378 hitting percentage and four blocks. Junior Cami Heninger added 15 kills and a .343 hitting percentage, and Kendra Bodine had 15 kills and 12 digs in her final match at NNU. Senior setter Hailey Cook had 51 assists and 18 digs, senior libero Jacquelyn Johnson had 27 digs and senior Mari Thomas had eight kills and 20 digs.

The seniors wrap up a stellar career that included 89 wins, three national tournament appearances and two national tournament victories.

"This will go down as one of the best teams in NNU volleyball program history," English said. "This will be a group they talk about in 20 years when we are winning regional championships."

Western Washington (27-3) will face either Cal Baptist or Cal State San Bernardino in the regional final on Saturday night.

Great Northwest Athletic Conference player of the year Abby Phelps led the Vikings with 21 kills and 22 digs.

"She was player of the year for a reason and we had problems stopping her," English said, "but they had a really hard time stopping Madi, Kendra and Cami. It was a really back and forth match. We did a great job staying together.

"We had a great run in the first set to win it and a great run in the fourth set where we had chances to take that set, and we just couldn't execute or get a kill or score a point when we had to.

"In the end, there are only 32 teams left playing in December and I'm really proud of the girls and how they worked and the season they had."