LAIE, Hawaii – Despite falling in the first set, the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team came back to win three-straight to get the win in their season opener over Brigham Young University-Hawaii at the Cannon Center in Laie on Friday. Alaska went 18-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-20 over the Seasiders to capture their first season-opening win since 2012. Alaska's overall record now sits at 1-0, while BYU-Hawaii moves to 1-3 overall.
"Once we got over the first set nervousness, things really came together for us in the following sets," head coach Brian Scott said following the win. "We made one small defensive change and from then on, I think it was mostly the girls getting comfortable on the court. We're extremely happy with how they battled back."
The Nanooks were led with standout performances by junior outside hitter Angela Molesworth and sophomore outside hitter Amberly Jeane, who each recorded 12 kills. Junior setter Rachel Nichols posted 36 assists, while redshirt-senior Meagan Olsen collected 17 digs as the Nooks' libero. Alaska posted 13 service aces throughout all four sets, while also putting up 15 blocks.
"Angela really impressed us with her hitting today," Scott said. "Some of her hits were hit so hard they were spraying into the crowd after going off of a defender, she was untouchable and Amberly was so good in transition for us."
It wasn't until Alaska was down 0-3 in the first set before Molesworth captured the first point of the season for the Nanooks. Molesworth seemed to dominate the kill column on the scoresheet for the Nanooks, posting four in the first set alone – tying her with BYU-Hawaii's Sinamoni Tonga and Leilani Adolpho, who also had four each. Down early, the Nanooks rallied for a five-point streak to make it 9-13 halfway through the first set. Later, the Seasiders went on a seven-point streak to make it 16-24, ultimately taking the first set 18-25.
With the first-set jitters out of the way, the Nooks came into the second set with a vengeance. Led by junior Riley Podowicz, who led the Nanooks with three kills, Alaska took advantage of the Seasiders' defense with five service aces to BYU-Hawaii's seven attack errors. The Nanooks tallied three, four-point streaks in the second set to take it 25-20.
"Riley and Kim deserve a lot of credit today," Scott exclaimed. "It's been a long time since we've had our middles have double-digit attempts like that. They worked hard to get into position to give good swings which gave us a lot more looks offensively."
Back-and-forth play riddled the first part of the third set, as it was neck-and-neck between the Nanooks and Seasiders up to 9-8 point Alaska. The Nanooks brought their strong serving game to the third set, which produced six aces, with Podowicz chipping in two. Molesworth and redshirt-junior Maddie Davis kept Alaska's offensive alive with three kills each.
The Nooks offense turned up the heat in the fourth set, producing a team attack percentage of .325, their highest of the game. Jeane led the Nooks in kills with six, while Wong claimed three for herself. Furthermore, Nichols recorded 11 assists, while Olsen posted seven digs.
"Rachel did a really nice job recognizing the one-on-one blocks, which ultimately led to our offense getting the job done," Scott concluded.
BYU-Hawaii was led by Tonga and Adolpho, who had 13 kills each. The Seasiders outdid the Nooks on digs 41-58 but were less successful in their attack percentage, as Alaska went .224 to BYU-Hawaii's .187.
The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team is back in action later this evening, taking on Hawaii Pacific University at the Cannon Center on the BYU-Hawaii campus at 7 p.m. Alaska Time. For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
