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Box Score 2 FAIRBANKS, ALASKA -- The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team dropped a pair of matches to Saint Joseph's (Ind.) and St. Mary's (Texas) to conclude the season-opening Flint Hills Resources Nanook Classic on Saturday.
It was another heartbreaking five-set loss for the Nanooks to open the Saturday morning session of the Classic, as the Nanooks fell 3-2 (25-20, 18-25, 25-17, 23-25, 12-15) to eventual Nanook Classic Champions Saint Joseph's. Alaska took the court looking to salvage a match in the finale, but were denied that chance from St. Mary's, as the Rattlers took care of the Nanooks in four sets to win 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 14-25, 20-25).
"Even though this weekend's outcome wasn't what we wanted, we emphasized to the girls that huge steps were still made," head coach Brian Scott said after Saturday's second match. "Progress is being made and we specifically talked about how many sets were won this weekend opposed to how long to it took to win that number last year. This team battles, and we are going to keep progressing and moving forward. This weekend was just the start."
Though Alaska did not pick up a win in the Classic, the Nanooks were still able to come out of their opening weekend with five set victories, a feat they did not accomplish until Oct. 2 of last year. The five set wins were also the most by Alaska in the Nanook Classic since 2012.
Senior outside hitter Sam Harthun capped off a strong opening week by being named to the Nanook Classic All-Tournament team. The Oregon City, Oregon native posted a combined 49 kills during the three-match weekend and hit a steady .227. Harthun also posted the team's first double-double of 2015, as she collected 14 kills and 10 digs against Saint Joseph's.
The 49 kills this weekend gives Harthun 1,146 for her career, just 68 kills shy from moving into second place on the school's all-time list. Currently, Megan Thigpen, who played from 2006-09, is ranked second with 1,213 career kills. Harthun also became only the third player in school history to surpass the 1,100-kill mark.
Freshman Amberly Jeane also had a strong three-match performance, as the freshman posted 25 kills in her collegiate debut weekend. The Pearland, Texas native began her Alaska career with back-to-back double-digit kill performances, as she followed up her 12-kill performance against Minot State last night with another dozen kills against the Pumas on Saturday morning.
Maddie Davis also played a key offensive role this week, as the redshirt sophomore posted double-digit kills in two of the three matches to give her 29 for the Classic, including a career-best 12 kills in Saturday's nightcap against St. Mary's.
Coach Scott was pleased to see the kind of distribution within his offense, and states that it was a key point of emphasis in the preseason.
"No one person can take the load by themselves. It's good for us that we had some distribution this weekend, and it's encouraged the girls. Maddie had a great tournament, she had a career-best night in terms on hitting percentage – hit .556 against Minot – on Friday and comes back with another career night in kills the next night. That's just amazing."
Junior libero Meagan Olsen settled in nicely into her new role for the team, as she posted 56 digs in three matches and averaged an even four digs per set over the weekend. Olsen set a career-best in digs in the match against Saint Joseph's, as she had 22 in the five-set match.
"There was a lot of tough competition for that libero spot," said Scott. "We have two other girls that are pushing for playing time there behind her and its made Meagan rise to the occasion and get better. It's nice, as a coach, to see three kids push each other and make one another better every day."
The Pumas captured the 2015 Flint Hills Resources Nanook Classic after a three-way tiebreaker was implemented between them, St. Mary's and Minot State, who all finished the weekend 2-1. Saint Jospeh's Bridget Krasowski was named the Classic's Most Valuable Player.
The Nanooks will be back in action next Thursday, as they travel to Seattle to partake in the GNAC/Pac West Crossover, which will be held on the campus of Seattle Pacific. Alaska will open the four-match, three-day round robin on Thursday against California Baptist at 11:30 a.m.
For more information on the Alaska Nanook volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like Alaska Nanook volleyball on Facebook.
