FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Oct. 25, 2011 – The Alaska women's volleyball team hits the road this week for a pair of Great Northwest Athletic conference contests when it faces Seattle Pacific and Montana State-Billings.
The Nanooks (2-18, 2-10 GNAC) first play the 24th-ranked Falcons (16-5, 10-2 GNAC) Thursday at 6 p.m. and wrap up the trip against the Yellowjackets (9-12, 3-9 GNAC) on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Alaska is coming off a pair of home losses after falling 3-2 (25-14, 21-25, 25-18, 13-25, 13-15) to Simon Fraser last Thursday and 3-0 (19-25, 22-25, 19-25) to Western Washington Saturday.
Sophomore outside hitter
Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) recorded a pair of 12-kill outings for UA, including a career-best .426 (12-0-26) attack percentage against WWU.
“Keri works hard every single day and it's always great to see a player hit that break-through moment where things really click for them,” Head Coach
Phil Shoemaker said. “I don't anticipate she'll hit .450 or so every match for the rest of the year, but we like what she did on Saturday and she's one of those athletes you know is going to give her absolute best.”
Junior middle blocker
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif./Manhattan College) had a career-high 16 kills against the Clan Thursday. Shoemaker also got production out of a pair of freshmen in outside hitter
Jaxon Hill (Clam Gulch, Alaska/Skyview) and middle blocker
Morgan Tebbs (Queen Creek, Ariz./Queen Creek). Hill, playing on the left side for the first time in her career, turned in six kills against the Vikings, while Tebbs tallied a career-high seven blocks against SFU.
“The thing we really like about Jaxon is she's a competitor and she brings a competitor's energy to the court,” Shoemaker said. “Moving her to the left side was her best opportunity to get in the game. We felt we needed to put a better block in that position and she brought that to the game for us. I like what she has done and I like how she goes about her business.”
“Morgan is a pretty good blocker and a great competitor,” Shoemaker said. “She brings an energy to the court and as she gets more playing time and gets smarter about the game, she'll continue to improve on both blocking and hitting. As she grows and matures, we think she's going to develop into a solid player. The thing we like the most about her is the personality she brings to the court.”
The Nanooks have six matches remaining in the regular season and Shoemaker believes the team can make some noise down the stretch and finish on a strong note.
“If we can control the things we can control, we can move up three places in the standings and that would be a great accomplishment at this point,” Shoemaker said. “We're going to make our best effort to win every time we step on the floor and we're going to do it with the athletes that have that kind of resolve and it's our intent to get it done.”
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Montana State-Billings Live Stats
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Scouting the Falcons:
Seattle Pacific swept the Nanooks 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-15) back on Oct. 1. In that match, Cailin Fellows had a match-high 15 kills and Shelby Swanson contributed 36 assists, while Anna Herold chipped in with 22 digs.
The Falcons lead the all-time series 28-9 and have won five in a row.
Shoemaker on SPU: “Seattle Pacific is a low-error team and the thing that impressed me the most about them when we played them previously was that you can get them out of system but they get right back into system as fast or faster than any team we've played this year. They are very disciplined, very controlled and when they get the chance, they're aggressive and go for the kill.”
Scouting the Yellowjackets:
Last time these two met, Alaska took a thrilling 3-2 (25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-8) win from MSUB on Sept. 29. Four Nanooks recorded double-digit kill totals, and junior libero
Allison Oddy (Chilliwack, British Columbia/Highroad Academy) had 30 digs, while freshman setter
Becky Martin (Cochrane, Alberta/Bow Valley) had a career night with 47 assists 13 digs.
Alaska leads the all-time series 25-19. Since 2007, the Yellowjackets have won five of eight against the 'Nooks.
Shoemaker on MSUB: “I'm sure they're going to have revenge in their hearts. We won a tough five-set match here against them. They have nice, tall athletes and put up a noticeable block. We got away with one by the skin of our teeth last time and I would expect this match to be very similar to the last. It'll be battled down to the wire and the thing about going on the road is you better plan on being about five points better than your opponent.”
