FAIRBANKS, Alaska – As the Nanooks returned to Fairbanks after a particularly puzzling Hawaii road trip, things were looking up. Early mistakes had been fixed and the next match would take places in front of a raucous crowd full of Alaska faithful.
Unfortunately, Minnesota State had other plans that did not involve the Nanooks coming out on the winning end.
Alaska fell 3-0 (23-25, 18-25, 19-25) to the No. 16 Mavericks on Friday (Sep. 1) night and lost their second straight home opener. The blue and gold fell to 0-5 on the season while the Mavericks opened up their 2011 campaign with a victory.
The Nanooks were unable to find many openings in the stout Maverick defense and finished with a hitting percentage of .127. Minnesota State hit an even .250 – more than doubling up the blue and gold.
“The difference in the match was defensive discipline and theirs was better than ours,” said twelfth year head coach Phil Shoemaker. “We didn't adjust well to some of the plays we were running, and their ability to get right back into their offense was great.”
Neither side was able to run away from the other in a tightly contested first set. With the tally knotted at seven,
Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo.) smashed home a pair of kills while
Becky Martin (Cochrane, Alberta) added a rare kill of her own to hand the 'Nooks a three-point edge.
After weathering a similar 3-0 spurt from the Mavericks, Alaska benefited from a pair of attack errors by the purple and gold during a 4-1 run for the home squad. The Mavericks did not appear fazed, however, as they battled back to tie matters at 19.
After trading points yet again the score sat at 22-all before a Knight service error and a block gave Minnesota State a two-point edge. The Nanooks earned another point with a Maverick attack error to keep things interesting but Minnesota State came up a kill on the next point to take a 1-0 lead.
Determined to even the score, the Nanooks jumped out to an early 4-1 lead thanks to a pair of kills from
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif.) and another score from
Reilly Stevens (Riverside, Calif.). The Mavericks roared back though, employing a 7-1 run to take control of the set.
The Nanooks clawed back to within one after another kill from Stevens but could not come back any further. Down by an 18-20 tally the Nanooks couldn't find any more points in the set as the Mavericks closed the door with a 5-0 run.
Facing a must-win game three, senior
Simone Chavous (Aurora, Colo.) opened the set with a kill before the Mavericks made use of a diversified array of offensive options to take an 8-1 lead. During the run, four Mavericks scored points and a service error didn't help things for Alaska.
The Nanooks were able to narrow the gap to two on a pair of occasions down the stretch, but they couldn't completely overcome the multi-pronged attack strategy of the Mavericks and dropped the match with a 25-19 tally in the deciding set.
Stevens led the way for the Nanooks with nine kills and also chipped in seven digs and a pair of block assists.
Tidwell scored eight kills, while Knight rounded out the main scoring trio for the blue and gold with seven.
Martin finished with 25 helpers for the 'Nooks.
The Nanooks have less than 24 hours before their next match as they face off against Dallas Baptist on Friday (Sep. 2) at 7 p.m. in the second match of the 2011 Nanook Classic.
Box Score
