Box Score FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team demonstrated why they are the top service ace team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, as they landed a season-best 20 aces to give head coach Brian Scott his first career win as a head coach, with a 3-2 (25-17, 25-15, 24-26, 20-25, 15-7) victory over Saint Martin's on Thursday night.
The Nanooks (1-11, 1-4 GNAC) collected a GNAC season-best 20 aces in a thrilling five-set match, as GNAC service ace leader Riley Podowicz and senior Sam Harthun each posted a career-best seven aces to help Alaska snap its 15-match losing streak. Harthun added a season-high 20 kills and hit a season-best .286 in the win. The 20 kills also extends Harthun's double-digit kills streak to seven matches.
"It feels good to finally get a win, and I'm excited for these girls, they really deserve it," said Scott after the match. "This team has been working so hard for weeks now, they've been battling and battling to get that first win and it feels good that they were able to put together a complete match and win three sets."
The seven aces from Harthun and Podowicz ties them for third-most in a match in school history. The duo was just one shy of tying the school record, which is held by Tanya Piatanova and Jamie Schanback.
"Our focus lately has been the serve, serve receive battle," exclaimed Scott. "We challenged our girls, telling them they need to keep the serves in and place them where we are asking. They did that tonight and put a lot of pace on the ball and ended up with 20 aces."
The 20 service aces was one shy of the school record, which was set against Saint Martin's in 2002, and four shy of the GNAC all-time record, which was set by Alaska Anchorage in a 2001 match against Western Virginia State.
Alaska captured the first two sets of the night, winning 25-17 in the first, followed by a 25-15 victory in the second set, to take a 2-0 lead into the break for the first time this season. The Nanooks had a chance to close out the match in the third, as they led 24-19, but Saint Martin's (2-9, 1-4 GNAC) rolled off seven-straight points to collect a come-from-behind, 26-24, set victory.
The Saint's rode their momentum into the fourth set, as they opened with a 7-3 lead. Alaska battled back to tie the match at 19-all after a SMU attack error, but Saint Martin's closed out the set on a 6-1 run to force a decisive fifth set.
Harthun was a force in the fifth set, as she accounted for 6.5 of the Nanooks 15 points in the set with five kills, one service ace and one assisted block. A Kensey Mix kill gave Alaska an 8-4 lead at the switch and the Nanooks closed out the match on a 7-3 run, capped off by a Podowicz service ace, to capture their first win of 2015.
Sophomore Maddie Davis joined Harthun in double-digit kills with 11 and hit .250 on the night. It was the third double-digit kill performance for Davis on the year, and her first since the St. Mary's contest. Amberly Jeane added nine kills, as the freshman has now collected 29 kills in the last three matches.
Senior setter Miranda Grieser extended her double-digit assists streak to 38-straight matches with 26, while sophomore Dylan Branch added 15 assists in her first start of the season. The Nanooks defense was led by redshirt senior Samantha Hesterman, who collected a season-best 17 digs, as her performance helped Alaska hold Saint Martin's to a .168 hitting percentage.
The Nanooks close out their four-match GNAC home stand on Saturday, as they take on Seattle Pacific. First serve from Alaska Airlines Court is set for 7 p.m.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like Alaska Nanooks Volleyball on Facebook.
