Oct. 10, 2008
Box Score
FAIRBANKS, AK - The Alaska Nanooks women's volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit, to upend the Nationally ranked and previously unbeaten Western Washington University, giving the Wildcats their first loss of 2008, by scores of 29-27, 13-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match Saturday at the Patty Center.
Alaska improved to 12-5 and 6-2 in the GNAC with its third straight victory, while the Vikings, rated No.3 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, fell to 13-1 overall and 5-1 in the GNAC. Western was the last team in NCAA II to suffer its first loss of the season, and also had a 21-match GNAC winning streak snapped. The victory also marked the first time since the formation of the GNAC that the Nanooks defeated the Vikings.
The Nanooks scored the final four points of the match to overcome a 13-11 deficit in the fifth set in the win. Senior middle blocker Korlyn Bolster tied the set at 13-13 with a kill, then combined with junior outside Megan Thigpen on a block to put the Blue and Gold ahead. The match point then came on a kill error by Western Washington (13-1, 5-1).
Joining Bolster, who hit for a .412 percentage (18-4-34), in double figure kills was Thigpen, who had 14 kills and 21 digs. Junior outside hitter Heather Lyons also had 21 digs and setter Alexa Sherman was credited with 51 assists, seven kills and six digs.
Western's Angie Alvord led the match with 22 kills, but the Vikings were hampered by 30 hitting errors that held their attack percentage to .170, the second-lowest mark of the season. Middle blocker Tiana Roma added 17 kills and a match-high nine blocks, four of them solo efforts.
The Nanooks get little rest before they head to Anchorage Tuesday to prepare for Wednesday night's match up with their archrivals, Alaska Anchorage, at 7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Complex.
