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Western Washington University is ranked No.9 in the Division II Bulletin 2014-15 Pre-season Top 25 released Tuesday, Oct. 7.

The team gets its 2014-15 season underway with a tip-off dinner at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club. Tickets for the event are $20 per person and include dinner and a Q&A session with players and coaches.

The Vikings return three front line players from last year's team which finished 20-8 overall, placed second in the GNAC regular-season standings at 13-5, and reached the championship game of the GNAC Tournament. Only upsets in the other two West Region conference tournaments kept them from a chance at winning a third straight West Regional championship.

The trio includes 6-6 forward Jeffrey Parker (So., Richmond, CA/Salesian), who averaged 11.9 points, 6-7 forward Joey Schreiber (So., Renton/Eastside Catholic), who averaged 10.7 points; and 6-7 post-player Anye Turner (Sr., Olympia/Black Hills), who averaged 8.5 points and 7.5 rebounds.

A much anticipated newcomer is 5-10 junior guard Ricardo Maxwell, who sat out last season after being a first-team Northwest Athletic Conference all-star at Edmonds CC.

Three transfers expected to play big roles for head coach Tony Dominguez (3rd year, 51-11) are point guard Jaamon Echols, who played at Odessa College following a season at NCAA I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; guard Kyle Impero, who averaged 28.3 points in earning NAC North Region MVP honors at Whatcom CC; and center Mac Johnson, a first-team NAC South Region all-star and South Region co-Defensive Player of the Year at Mount Hood CC.

²ÝÁñÉçÇø won the NCAA II national championship in 2012 and reached the national semifinals in 2013.

For more information about the tip-off dinner, contact Katie Rothenberg at 360-650-4314 or katie.rothenberg@wwu.edu.