[Box Score]
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Junior
Reilly Stevens (Riverside, Calif.) recorded her second straight double double and the Nanooks won their first two sets of the season on their home turf, but the visiting Western Oregon Wolves rallied to take the next three sets and upset the host Nanooks by a 3-2 decision.
Alaska opened the match by taking the first set 25-17 followed by a 25-23 edge in the second before WOU responded with 25-14, 25-20 and 15-7 victories in the third, fourth and final sets, respectively. The Nanooks slide to 0-10 on the season and 0-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the Wolves move to 3-3 and 2-0 in league play.
"It was great to see us come out and execute well in the first two sets - we played with energy and did the things that we're working on in practice," said head coach Phil Shoemaker. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to sustain that for the next three (sets) and Western Oregon played really well. They came back and did the things that a good team does: they were strong physically, mixed their shots well, continued to serve aggressively and blocked us more than we got them. So it was kind of the tale of two matches within one but it was good to see us play hard."
Stevens got 17 kills and 17 digs and a match-high three service aces to lead the blue and gold, while junior
Allison Oddy (Chilliwack, British Columbia) led all players with 29 digs and freshman setter
Becky Martin (Cochrane, Alberta) was tops for both squads with 46 helpers. Also reaching double-figure kills were sophomore
Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo.) with 12 and junior
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif.) with 10.
The Nanooks also welcomed the return of senior rightside hitter
Karlee Skalla (Las Vegas, Nev.), who notched five kills, three digs and three blocks.
After trading the first few points of the opening set, Oddy gave Alaska its first multi-point lead of the evening. A kill by Knight coupled with two hitting errors from WOU's Danielle Reese gave the home team an 8-4 advantage but the Wolves came back to tie the tally at 9-9. Skalla got a kill to make it 10-9 and the Nanooks would not relent, leading the rest of the way. Stevens widened the gap with five consecutive serves that included two of her match-high service aces and made it 23-13. A service error by the Wolves' Megan Triggs and a kill by Knight sealed the win for the Nanooks: their first set victory at the Patty Center since the final match of the 2010 season.
The second set was much more tightly contested as the teams traded leads early on but WOU seemed to have the advantage, getting four-point leads on three different occasions. Back-to-back kills by Stevens sparked Alaska's comeback and with her at the service line, the Nanooks tied the game at 16-all. The teams traded kills to make it 17-all, but a successful attack by Knight gave Alaska the lead for good and she closed out the set with another kill to give her team a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
Despite the two-set deficit the visitors carried, they came back with a vengeance and took the first four points of the third set. Alaska made several attempts to overtake the Wolves, but could drawn no closer than three points twice, before WOU used small runs of points to build their advantage. Alaska was unable to keep possession of the serve, leading to their ultimate third set demise by a 25-14 decision.
Just 25 points away from their first win of the season, it looked as though Alaska would go the distance in the fourth. The visitors proved too persistent though and finally caught the Nanooks at 17-all before striking for six kills in the final eight points and fully taking advantage of some untimely hitting errors from the Nanooks along the way. Krissi Kemper scored the final point for a 25-20 win that evened the match at 2-sets apiece and forced the deciding fifth set.
With Oddy serving to open the set, Knight beat the WOU defenders with an attack for the first point of the game. It was a short-lived lead and the only one the home team would enjoy before WOU took control of the set for good. As was the case in the third set, Alaska could not maintain the serve which foiled their chances of surmounting a comeback of their own down the stretch. WOU's Reagan Beatty used a service ace to seal the Nanooks fate with a 15-7 fifth-set loss.
WOU was led by Reese with 16 kills, 15 digs and three blocks. Their setter LesLyne Satele notched 45 assists, while Kemper recorded double-figure kills with 15 and a pair of Wolves, Corynn Kopra and Megan Triggs, tallied 17 digs apiece.
The Nanooks will have a full week of practice to prepare for their next opponent, the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves. The teams will meet next Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Patty Center.
"We've been working really hard on getting better and we're seeing progress and we're going to continue to see progress," Shoemaker said. "I don't know if we'll have Simone (Chavous) back by then but that's a factor too. Everybody understands we're capable of winning against good competition, we just need to do it," he added.
Live game stats and video/audio webcast will be available at alaskananooks.com
