UAA storms back to defeat volleyball in five-set thriller
October 1, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Four players recorded double-digit kills, including 24 by Sarah Johnson, and Alaska Anchorage rallied from two sets down to defeat Alaska 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-10) in Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball in front of 884 rowdy fans on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
The win for the Seawolves was their 15th straight at home, tying a program record as they improved to 9-4 overall an 4-1 in league play, while the Nanooks fell for the ninth time in a row and dropped to 2-9 on the year and 0-5 in the GNAC.
It was a career night for three Nanooks as freshman outside hitter Sam Harthun tied Johnson with a career-high 24 kills to go with 11 digs and three blocks and freshman setter Katlyn Mataya dished out 46 assists with 10 digs, while senior libero Allison Oddy made 37 digs, besting her previous high by three.
Other key contributors for Alaska were senior outside hitter Reilly Stevens, junior outside hitter Keri Knight and sophomore middle blocker Morgan Tebbs. Stevens posted a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs, Knight added nine terminations and Tebbs led the 'Nooks with four assisted blocks.
UAA was paced by Johnson with her 24 kills and team-bests of 24 digs and a .370 (24-4-54) hitting percentage. Katelynn Zanders had 14 kills, while Julia Mackey and Jodi Huddleston tallied 13 and 12 terminations, respectively. Kimya Jafroudi turned in a match-high 59 assists as well as 12 digs, while three other Seawolves had at least 10 digs. Additionally, Maureen Sabado led all spikers with eight total blocks, while Mackey had five.
Anchorage hit .258 (70-21-190) as a team while Alaska had a .176 (56-24-182) attacking clip. UAA committed 17 service errors to Alaska's 11 but outscored the Nanooks 11-5 on blocks.
The first set was tight throughout, but with Alaska and UAA tied at 16, the Nanooks scored three of four, with a pair of Ixchelle Oleson kills and a Seawolf service error to give the 'Nooks a 19-17 lead. UAA tied it at 19 after Alaska committed two errors, but the next three went to Alaska, all by way of kills, to give it a 22-19 advantage. The lead got to four at 24-20 and UAA staved off set point twice, but Harthun closed the set with a slam to give Alaska 25-22 set win.
Set two was much like the opening frame as teams battled closely. Alaska led by a point at 20-19, but a Jafroudi service error and two Harthun kills gave the Nanooks a 23-19 lead. UAA closed to within two at 24-22 after taking advantage of a couple Alaska errors, but the home team was out of rotation, which gave the 'Nooks a 25-22 set victory and a 2-0 match lead.
UAA held a slim lead at 14-13 but it went on an 8-1 run, capped off by two Johnson kills to hold a comfortable 22-14 lead. The Seawolves led by as many as nine and went on to take the third by the count of 25-17.
Alaska led the hosts 14-13 in the fourth, but three UAA kills and a Nanook error allowed the 'Wolves to take a 17-15 lead. Leading 19-17, the Seawolves had a pair of kills by Zanders to double the advantage to 21-17. Alaska got to within three on a few occasions, with the last coming at 23-20, but a Harthun service error and Johnson termination gave UAA a 25-20 win to force the fifth set.
The Seawolves jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the race to 15, due in large part to the three Alaska errors in the first nine points. The Nanooks got to within three at 7-4 and 8-5, but three in a row for UAA gave it an 11-5 lead. The 'Nooks never drew closer than four down the stretch as the Fairbanks native, Mackey, delivered one last kill to give UAA a 15-10 win as well as the 3-2 match victory.
Alaska returns home next week to host Western Washington (Oct. 4) and Simon Fraser (Oct. 6) at the Patty Center. Both matches are set for 7 p.m. starts.