FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Oct. 18, 2011 – The Alaska women's volleyball team returns home this week with a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches. The Nanooks (2-16, 2-8 GNAC) will host Simon Fraser (0-15, 0-11 GNAC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. before wrapping up with Western Washington (11-4, 9-2 GNAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
“It's obviously two very different opponents but we're approaching them the same way,” Head Coach
Phil Shoemaker said. “Simon Fraser is obviously one of the teams we've beaten and we certainly want to repeat that, build on it and get a little bit better. With Western Washington, we had a really competitive match down at their place and I felt at that time we really showed a lot of promise and we could compete with anyone in our conference but we have to bring our 'A' game.”
The Nanooks are coming off a 3-0 (16-25, 22-25, 13-25) loss at rival Alaska Anchorage last Saturday. The Seawolves turned in a season-high attack percentage after hitting .412. UAA was led by Robyn Burton and Jackie Matthisen, who combined for 26 kills. Burton also posted a .765 attack percentage with 13 terminations on 17 attempts.
Junior middle blocker
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif./Manhattan College) led the offensive attack for Alaska with a team-high eight kills and a .467 attack percentage. On the year, Tidwell ranks 10th in the GNAC with a .251 attack percentage.
“Casey is having a good season, a solid season offensively,” Shoemaker said. “She's certainly carrying her portion of the load. We would like to use her even more but I think we've used her well and intelligently. How much we are going to use her is dependent upon the performance of others, not so much how she's performing.”
Also ranked in the top 10 of GNAC individual statistics are freshman setter
Becky Martin (Cochrane, Alberta/Bow Valley) and junior libero
Allison Oddy (Chilliwack, British Columbia/Highroad Academy). Martin is fourth in service aces (0.34 per set) and seventh in assists (8.69 per set.) Her assist average is also the 113th best mark in the country. Oddy ranks fifth in digs (4.66 per set), while sitting 59th nationally in that category.
With four weeks and eight matches remaining in the regular season, Alaska will rotate being home and away each week. The final two home matches for the 'Nooks are Nov. 3 vs. Central Washington and Nov. 5 vs. Northwest Nazarene.
“The benefit of playing at home is the team gets three extra days of class this week and that really is a bonus,” Shoemaker said. “Also a benefit is playing in front of our home fans. We love our fans and we want to play well for them. It's always good to be at home.”
Live stats and
free live video will be available for both contests.
Scouting the Clan:
Simon Fraser has yet to win a match this season and has struggled to even win a set in the 2011 campaign. The Clan has captured only three sets, including one against the Nanooks in their previous meeting on Sept. 24, a 3-1 win for Alaska.
SFU leads the all-time series 3-1, including a pair of wins last season in its inaugural season in the GNAC.
Scouting the Vikings:
The Nanooks will have a tough test when league-leading Western Washington visits the Patty Center on Saturday. The Vikings have won two in a row and four of the last five to lead Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage by one in the standings.
They have three different players who lead the league in respective statistical categories. Marlayna Geary leads the GNAC with 4.33 kills per set and 4.75 points per set and Laurie Yearout averages 11.11 assists per set, while Samantha Hutchinson has 5.58 digs per set.
Emily Jepsen also ranks third in the league with a .311 attack percentage and 1.04 blocks per set, while placing 10th with 3.22 kills per set.
WWU holds a comfortable 31-6 lead all-time against the Nanooks.
