University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Box Score
HAYWARD, Calif. – Co-tournament host Cal State East Bay had two players with double-digit kills, helping lead the Pioneers to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-20) sweep over the visiting Alaska Nanooks at Pioneer Gymnasium in both teams' opening match of the Route 92 Classic.
 
Brittany Dominguez (13 kills) and Amber Hall (11 kills) led the Pioneers' (1-4) attack, hitting .650 and .450, respectively. Cal State East Bay hit .389 as a team to earn its first victory of the season. The Nanooks (0-8) hit .138 with 17 errors. Sophomore Sam Harthun (Oregon City, Ore./Art) was Alaska's top hitter with 13 kills. Harthun also hit for her best percentage this season in a single match at .243.
 
Junior Morgan McGrath (Queen Creek, Ariz./Business Administration) hit .364 for the match with six kills, while freshman Katelyn Camp (Newton, Iowa/General Studies) handled the Nanooks' setting duties with 21 assists.
 
The third and final set was the most competitive, with the two teams trading points back and forth nearly the entire set. A four-point Pioneers lead at 8-4 and again at 12-8 was the largest either team held until the end. The set was tied six different times, though the lead only changed once after the Nanooks held an early 3-2 advantage. Then, after an attack error by Allen gave the Nanooks a point and made the score 20-19, the Pioneers went on a 5-1 run to clinch the set and the match.
 
Alaska showed it could hang with Cal State East Bay in the second set as well, but only to the halfway point. The Nanooks never let the Pioneers get more than two points ahead. Trailing 10-8, Alaska got back-to-back points on consecutive errors by CSUEB to tie it at 10-10, but that was when the Pioneers turned it on.
 
Cal State East Bay took off on a 7-1 run, with Alaska's only point coming from a service error. Another 8-4 stretch and the Pioneers had grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the match with a 25-15 second set win.
 
The Pioneers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set thanks to a 6-0 run, but Alaska pulled back within three at 9-6 with a 5-3 spurt that included a kill from junior Britt Glaeser (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business Administration) and an ace from junior Tessa Butterfield (Grass Valley, Calif./Justice). Cal State East Bay distanced itself again, though, leading by as much as eight (19-11) before Alaska came back once more. The Nanooks trimmed the Pioneers' largest lead of the set to four at 22-18, but the Pioneers would close it out, capping the first set win with a kill from Allen.
 
Errors plagued the Nanooks in the first set. A total of seven attack errors and three service errors swung 10 points towards Cal State East Bay, as the Pioneers went on to win the opening frame 25-19. The Pioneers also had their struggles in the first set, committing three attack errors and three service errors.
 
The Nanooks play their second match of the day and the tournament at approximately 4 p.m. AKDT today in a neutral contest against Academy of Art inside Cal State East Bay's Pioneer Gymnasium.