Box Score
FAIRBANKS, AK – The Alaska Nanooks rallied behind 11 kills and 10 digs from senior outside hitter
Megan Thigpen (Spokane, WA) en route to a clean sweep of the Saint Martin's Saints on Thursday night at the Patty Center. The Nanooks improved to 2-2 in the conference and 8-7 overall with the victory.
The Nanooks jumped out early by grabbing the first set win, 25-18, and never looked back as they beat Saint Martin's 25-16 in the second, out hitting the Saints .370-.031 for the set, and a 2-0 lead. Alaska left no doubt in the third set, and closed out the match with a 25-14 victory.
For the game the Blue and Gold out hit Saint Martin's .327 to .103 while also recording 10 service aces. Alaska also doubled up the Saint's in kills 44-22.
For Thigpen, her double-double contributed to a new career-high attack percentage (when recording double-figure kills) of .435 for the match. Seniors
Heather Lyons (Anchorage, AK) (7) and
Jessica Hill (Colorado Springs, CO) (7), freshman
Sydney Van Munster (Portland, MI) (6), and senior
Alexa Sherman (Calabasas, CA) (5) rounded out a balanced attack of five players with five or more kills. “We have capable athletes,” head coach
Phil Shoemaker stated, “It was good to be able to utilize everyone.”
Sophomore libero
Jennifer Holland (Sterling, AK) led the match with 13 digs and also added four assists. Along with her five kills, Sherman had a match-high 27 assists and four digs. Sherman knows the importance of getting conference victories. “Its good, moving up (in the standings)” she said, “its still early but it is going to be a good lead into our game Saturday (against Western Oregon).”
Saint Martin's was led by Malia Ibarra and Kirstyn Druzianich who each had eight kills in the match while Brianna Bautista chipped in 12 digs in the loss.
The Nanooks will return to action on Saturday when they host last years conference champions, Western Oregon. The match is set for 3:00 PM.
