FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team got an outstanding performance from senior Sam Harthun, senior Miranda Grieser and sophomore Maddie Davis, as each player had a career night to help the Nanooks upset first-place Northwest Nazarene, 3-2 (26-24, 27-25, 18-25, 20-25, 16-14) on Thursday night.
Alaska (5-17, 5-10 GNAC) had three players with double-digit kills for the second-straight match, as Harthun, Davis and Podowicz each set a new career-best in the category, while Grieser once again bests her career-high in assists, by handing out a remarkable 74 assists in the five-set victory. Alaska hit a season-best .234 in the win, which marks just the second time this season the Nanooks have hit over .200 in a match. Thursday's win also pushes Alaska's winning streak to three matches, which is the longest winning-streak for the program since 2009 and also marks the first victory over Northwest Nazarene (16-6, 12-3 GNAC) since the '09 campaign.
"There has been a major evolution in volleyball here in Fairbanks this season," said head coach Brian Scott. "Nobody would have guessed that this is where we would be when we started the season. This is the kind of play you can start to expect from these girls. They play their hearts out and they deserve all the credit for what happened tonight. I'm so proud of them."
Harthun, who was honored prior to the on becoming the school's all-time kills leader, had her best performance in a Nanooks uniform to date, as the reigning Great Northwest Athletic Conference's reigning Offensive Player of the Week collected a career-best 40 kills on an outstanding .312 hitting percentage. The 40 kills was just four shy of the program's all-time record in kills, but it is still the most collected in a single match in the GNAC this season, and is the second-most kills collected in a single match in program history. Harthun added 13 digs, giving the outsider hitter her sixth double-double of the year.
Davis also had a career night in the kills category, by landing 17 swings and hitting .350 on 40 attempts. Davis was all over the court on Thursday night, as added a match-best 20 digs to post her first career double-double. The 20 digs were a career-best mark for the outsider hitter. Podowicz collected a career-best 13 kills in the win, as Alaska tallied a season-best 82 kills.
Like Harthun, Grieser just missed out on a school record, as her career-best 74 assists was five off the school record of 79 held by Kamilah Webb. The setter becomes the first Nanooks player since the turn of the century to post 70-or-more assists in a match. The 74 assists is also the most handed out in a single match this season in the GNAC.
The setter just missed out on a double-double, as she collected nine digs. In total, Alaska out dug the Crusaders, 75-62, in the win. Junior Meagan Olsen added 16 to give the Nanooks three player in double-digit digs.
Thursday marked the fourth-straight five-set match for Alaska, as it took more than 25 points to decid a winner in the first two set. The Nanooks captured the first two sets 26-24, 27-25, to take a commanding 2-0 lead into the break. Northwest Nazarene fought back to take the next two sets, and looked as if they would snatch a win from the Nanooks, as they led 7-3 in the deciding fifth set. A timeout by Scott allowed his team to regroup, as they fought back from the four-point deficit to win set, 16-14, and upset the defending GNAC Champions.
Alaska concludes a quick two-match GNAC home stand on Saturday afternoon, as they host No. 25 Central Washington at Alaska Airlines Court. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter of like Alaska Nanooks Volleyball on Facebook.
