LACEY, Wash. – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team snapped their 17-game losing streak on Friday night, defeating the Saint Martin's Saints 3-0 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match in Lacey. The victory marks the Nanooks' first three-set win in almost one entire calendar year, as the Nanooks last held a three-and-out win on Nov. 19, 2015 against Western Oregon.
The Nanooks defeated the Saints 25-22, 25-20 and 25-18 to improve their overall record to 3-23 and their conference record to 2-17, while the Saints drop their overall record to 6-17 overall, 2-17 GNAC.
"It was a complete night of volleyball for us, we played great offensively and extremely disciplined defensively and that was really the turning point for us," head coach Brian Scott said following Friday's win. "We had exceptional blocking and system play from our back-row players tonight. I loved how we had four players with double-digit digs, as well. I've been preaching to the team that we need more of our players to chip in and make some defensive plays so we don't have to rely on Meg tonight and I'm happy to say we achieved that goal from three others tonight."
As a team, the Nanooks out-did their opponent in almost every statistical category including points (52.0-47.0), aces (4-1), blocks (8-5) and digs (66-63). The Nooks collected 40 kills on the night, posting a game-high hitting percentage of .205.
As Scott stated, four Nooks recorded double-digit digs on the night, a first for the 2016 season. Redshirt-libero Meagan Olsen registered a team-high 18 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Amberly Jeane posted 15, freshman outside hitter Tatum Upchurch collected 12 and freshman defensive specialist Jenna Hickel chipped in 11.
Freshman middle blocker Kim Won led the Nanooks at the net, totaling a game- and season-high four block assists, while Jeane chipped in two block assists herself.
Junior outside hitter Riley Podowicz led the Nanooks' offense for the first time this season, posting 11 kills off of 22 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .273. Podowicz also picked up one solo block, one block assist and three digs to lead the team with 12.5 points.
Wong and Upchurch each contributed 10.5 points for Alaska on the night, as Wong collected eight kills for a .412 hitting percentage, while Upchurch posted six kills, two service aces, two solo blocks and one block assist. Junior setter Rachel Nichols dished a game-high 35 assists, while also posting one kill, one block assist and six digs on the night.
"We had a solid offensive performance tonight, with a high side-out percentage and multiple kills from a lot of players in the lineup," Scott concluded. "Rachel did a great job tonight, she stuck to the game plan and made the right plays so we were able to really utilize our middles tonight."
The Alaska Nanooks face their final opponent of the season tomorrow, Nov. 19, as they face the Seattle Pacific Falcons in a GNAC matchup in Seattle. First serve is slated for 6pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
