Sept. 13, 2007
Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Washington - The Alaska Nanooks got a bit of road rash as they were swept in their first conference road match of the season by the Western Washington Vikings Thursday night by scores of 30-26, 30-24, and 30-16. Despite the letdown, the Blue and Gold are still out to their best start in program history with a 7-3 overall record (1-1 GNAC), while the win moves the Vikings to 6-4 (2-1 GNAC) on the year.
The Nanooks were sluggish from the first whistle, letting the Vikings gain an early ten-point lead. Though Western held a hefty advantage, Alaska gradually chipped away the cushion, finally catching WWU at 18-18. The teams traded points into the early twenties but the Vikings used five points to extend their lead to 27-21 before the Nanooks thwarted their efforts and made a late surge of their own. It was too little to late though as WWU rallied off the last three points to take the first game 30-27.
Coming back in game two the Nanooks stayed in the game from the get-go, trading points with the Vikings through the first half of the game. With the tally tight midway through the set, senior outside hitter Jessica King rolled her ankle and had to be taken out for the remainder of the game and the match. Seemingly shaken by the loss of King, Alaska was unable to overcome Western, who closed out the game 30-24.
There was little the Nanooks could do in game three to change their fate. Western broke from a 9-9 tie with eight straight points, then closed out the match by scoring six of the last seven points. The Vikings were discourteous hosts, outhitting Alaska .341 to .029 in the final game.
It was a tough night at the net for the Nanooks as they were outhit .295 to .129 and outblocked 10-2 in the match by the Vikings. They also committed 23 hitting errors.
"We thought they [the team] were very prepared but we just didn't answer when the whistle sounded," Shoemaker said. "Once that ball started flying we just did not look anything like the team that we are or the the team we can be. Our serve receive was awful, which made it difficult for our setters and we were late in almost all of our positioning. It was a bit of a melt down."
"When we just played we were beating them, but we just didn't play well very often," said Shoemaker. "It shows us if we really want to play with the big guys, we're going to have to make the changes that need to be made. We've got to decide to get better."
Shoemaker noted one bright spot for the Nanooks was middle hitter Korlyn Bolster, who registered 10 kills and hit .398 in the match. "Offensively when we were able to use them I felt like our middles played pretty well."
Outside hitter Megan Thigpen registered a team-high 12 kills while Jenna Jones led the backcourt with 13 digs.
WWU was led by outside hitter Jaime Anderson, who had a match-high 16 kills, and middle blocker Angie Alvord (12 kills). Alvord also had a match high of seven blocks.
Alaska continues its road trip in Washington facing Central Washington in Ellensburg on Saturday. The Wildcats swept Alaska Anchorage Thursday night. The Nanooks return to the Patty Center on Sept. 20 for a match against GNAC newcomers Montana State Billings.
