FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team dropped their third-straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference match on Thursday night, as the No. 11 Western Washington Vikings swept the Nooks 3-0 at the Alaska Airlines Court in Fairbanks.

The Nooks went 19-25, 15-25 and 23-25 against the Vikings to drop to an overall record of 8-8 (1-6 GNAC), while WWU improves to 12-3 overall (6-1 GNAC).

After dropping the first two sets, the Nanooks made some line-up changes with freshman middle blocker Emily Moorhead, freshman defensive specialist Sarina Mancari and junior middle blocker Ashley Johnson each earning time on the floor. Despite being down 4-8 in the beginning of the third set, the Nooks capitalized on back-to-back-to-back attacking errors by the Vikings to officially take a 9-8 lead. The Nanooks kept the momentum going, earning a combined 14 kills to take a 17-13 lead.

Unfortunately, the Vikings clawed their way back to tie the game at the 19-19 mark and officially took the lead back at the 22-23 mark. Two kills by WWU's Michaela Hall and an attack error by the Nanooks gave the Vikings the "W" on the night.

Offensively, sophomore outside hitter Gabby Lerma led the Nanooks with a team-high 10 kills. Lerma's 10 kills on the night marks the Mission, Texas native's seventh match this season with double-digit kills. Additionally, Lerma posted 10 kills and only three errors off of 26 total attempts to boast a hitting percentage of .269.

Senior setter Rachel Nichols registered a team-high 20 assists and 10 digs against Western Washington to record her fifth double-double of the season. Nichols now leads the Nanooks in double-doubles with only four other Alaska players posting at least one throughout the year.

Nichols was one of three Nanook players to post double-digit digs on Thursday, as sophomore libero Jenna Hickel recorded a team-high 16 while redshirt-senior outside hitter Maddie Davis collected 10.

As a team, Alaska's best set was the third where the Nooks posted 14 kills and only five errors off of 38 total attacks to record a set hitting percentage of .237. Alaska also registered a sideout percentage of 56 percent, going 14-of-25.

The Alaska Nanooks return to their home court on Saturday, Oct. 7 to host the Simon Fraser University Clan in a GNAC match-up at 1pm AKDT. The game will also serve as the team's annual Dig Pink game, where Alaska encourages fans to dress in pink to promote breast cancer awareness.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.