Box Score BURNABY, British Columbia – In its opening Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Tuesday night, the Alaska volleyball team lost to Simon Fraser University by a tally of three sets to zero.
The Nanooks (0-9, 0-1 GNAC) scored point totals of 12, 22 and 18 in defeat while the Clan (7-2, 1-0 GNAC) have now won three in a row and improve to 5-0 at home.
Leading Alaska statistically were
Sam Harthun (eight kills and six digs) and
Brooke Mattice (eight kills). Also contributing were
Miranda Grieser who paced the offense with 19 assists and
Samantha Hesterman who led defensively with eight digs.
Simon Fraser was led by Kelsey Robinson who had 17 kills, five digs, two total blocks and two aces. Alison McKay was impressive on the defensive end with a game-high 16 digs to go along with three aces.
After falling quickly in the first set, the Nanooks battled hard in the next two. They started set two quickly, taking a 3-0 lead and building upon it to lead 12-8 at the first timeout. However, the Clan rallied to tie the game at 14 before jumping out to a 21-14 lead. Though Alaska would battle back to push the score to 21-18, the Clan would hold on for a 25-22 victory.
In set three, the Nooks immediately fell into a five point hole before they were able to tie the game at 14. However, just like the previous set, the Clan would go on a rally that Alaska was unable to withstand.
Alaska next plays at Western Washington University on Thursday, September 18 at 6 p.m. before returning home for games against Seattle Pacific University (Saturday/7p.m.) and Montana State Billings (Monday/7p.m.).
