Box Score Box Score
NAMPA, Idaho - The Alaska volleyball team closed out the 2012 campaign on Saturday evening with a 3-1 defeat at Northwest Nazarene, bringing an end to the playing careers of seniors
Allison Oddy (Chilliwack, B.C./Social Work) and
Reilly Stevens (Riverside, Calif./Biology) as well as the coaching career of 13-year head coach
Phil Shoemaker.
"The energy, attitude and teamwork were excellent," Shoemaker said. "There's a huge amount of opportunity and room to grow and excitement for the future. This last recruiting class we brought in, they're going to do great things. They have to be patient and pay their dues and that's what they're doing now. I'm proud of our seniors and they're great and we appreciate everything they've given to us over the years."
He continued, "There are no negatives in this group in terms of the people involved. They are quality people and if all you do is evaluate the quality of the season on wins and losses, then we came up short but when you factor in human quality and the improvement and future growth, it was a good season. I really enjoyed it and I consider it an honor and privilege to have a chance to work with these players."
The Crusaders (15-14, 8-10 GNAC) won the matches by scores of 25-19, 24-26, 25-18 and 25-18 to sweep the season series with the Nanooks (6-18, 4-15 GNAC), who improved with four more wins from a season ago.
Becky Flores led NNU with 13 kills to go with seven total blocks (one solo) and Elayna Rice produced nine kills and five block assists while Carly Dranginis had eight terminations and four block assists. Michelle Terpstra dished out 34 assists while Heather Allen contributed five kills on 14 swings and a match-high 10 block assists.
Freshman outside hitter
Sam Harthun (Oregon City, Ore./Photojournalism) led the 'Nooks with a match-best 16 kills and a strong .382 hitting percentage to go with seven digs and two total blocks. Freshman middle blocker
Megan Morrison (Spring Hill, Fla./Mathematics) tallied nine terminations and three total blocks and freshman setter
Katlyn Mataya (Mount Vernon, Wash./Psychology) produced 36 assists and Oddy ended her four-year career with a match-high 22 digs.
NNU hit .205 (44-19-122) while limiting Alaska to a .027 (43-39-150) clip. The Crusaders made 19 errors while the Nanooks struggled with 39 attack blunders. The hosts dominated the block 17-5 and both teams combined for 21 service errors.
Leading 8-7 in the first, NNU took a 12-7 advantage with a mini 4-0 run. Alaska got back to within a pair at 19-17 later in the set but the Crusaders closed the set with a 6-2 surge to win 25-19, due in part to a trio of Alaska errors.
The second was tight throughout but Nazarene, leading 18-17, took prime advantage of four Nanook errors to score five of eight and hold a 23-20 lead. NNU allowed the Nanooks to take the lead at 24-23 with four straight blunders but staved off the first set point with a block. Harthun and
Keri Knight responded with a kill each to square the match with a 26-24 set win.
NNU and Alaska kept the third set tight for the first half of the frame, but with the Crusaders maintaining a 16-13 advantage, a Dranginis kill and four straight Alaska attack errors gave the home team a 21-13 lead. The Nanooks never drew closer than six and dropped the set 25-18.
Tied at 8-8 in the fourth, NNU took a 14-9 lead with a 6-1 run (four Alaska errors). The 'Nooks closed the gap to 14-11, but two more errors and a NNU ace gave way for four of five to go the Crusaders' way to give them a 18-11 lead. Alaska got to within five twice, but NNU shut the door and won the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth.
