Box Score FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Nanook volleyball team succumbed to the potent attack of No. 24 nationally ranked Central Washington in a three set loss to its Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe on Saturday night at the Patty Gymnasium.
The Nanooks, in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Detection Center of Alaska - Fairbanks, wore pink warmup jerseys and used pink game balls in an effort to raise awareness for the disease and how early detection can potentially save lives.
Central Washington took the match in straight sets by scores of 18-25, 16-25 and 17-25.
"It was a frustrating loss," said head coach
Mallory Larranaga. "We had finally seen what we could do as a team. This loss wouldn't be so frustrating if we hadn't made so much effort and growth in progressing as a team."
Alaska (2-19, 2-11) was led in attack by
Sam Harthun who tied the match-high with 16 kills. Harthun now sits third on the all-time Nanook kill leader board with an impressive 1,031.
Brooke Mattice (10) and
Maddie Davis (7) were also a threat offensively, as they combined power and spontaneous soft attacks to collectively record 17 kills.
Offensively, the Nanook attackers looked to create several slippery situations for the Central Washington (15-6, 8-5) defense by avoiding the Wildcat blocks, but libero Kaely Kight had a strong game as she made a match-high 17 digs.
"They are a good blocking team," said Harthun. "Coach Larranaga told us to hit off the top of their hands, and that's what we did."
On the defensive side for the Nanooks,
Tessa Butterfield led the team with nine digs while
Lilah Hudson led the way with three total blocks.
The Wildcats took the first two sets quickly, winning 25-18 and 25-16, but the aura was different at the start of the third as Alaska set out to mount a comeback. The team's traded blows early on and the crowd tried their best to spur on the Alaskan attack.
"The third set started the way we wanted it to," commented Butterfield. "We talked between the second and the third about how good we are. That game, we really believed in each other."
Unfortunately, Central Washington's three-pronged attack of Linden Firethorne, Jordan Deming and Kiah Jones proved to be too much for the Nanooks. Firethorne matched Harthun's 16 kills while Deming (seven kills) hit for an impressive .467 percentage and Jones recorded 12 kills on a staggering .579 percentage.
Alaska will look to bounce back on the road with games against Saint Martin's and Western Oregon next weekend. The Nanooks defeated both of their GNAC rivals in the home swing a few weeks ago.
