FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team dropped their third-straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference match on Tuesday night, falling to in-state rival No. 10 Alaska Anchorage in three sets at the Alaska Airlines Court. The Nanooks went 14-25, 19-25 and 20-25 against the Seawolves, dropping their overall record to 2-10 (1-4 GNAC), while the Seawolves improve to 15-1 overall (5-0 GNAC).

"I think the pressure is mounting, we're looking a little more amped up than normal," head coach Brian Scott said following Tuesday's match. "The anxiety started to show in the first set when we started making some silly mistakes. Maybe it's the rivalry, but I think they were settled in by the third set and we were still trying to settle down. We're overthinking instead of just going out there, being competitive and playing to our ability."

As a team, Alaska posted 23 kills on the night, led by freshman middle blocker Kim Wong who chipped in seven. The Nanooks out-blocked the GNAC's leading-blocking team 6.0-5.0, with three Nanooks contributing three blocking points each. Junior setter Rachel Nichols led the team in assists with 22, while redshirt-senior libero Meagan Olsen tied for a game-high 16 digs. Alaska out-served the Seawolves, posting six service aces to UAA's five, thanks to rookies Jenna Hickel and Tatum Upchurch, who posted two aces each.

"I thought our serving was really strong tonight," Scott said. "Six aces and only three errors? That's excellent. For some of our younger players to get behind the line and get one of the best teams in the country out of system is a major positive from tonight."

The Nanooks went down early in the first set, giving UAA a two-point lead before a kill by junior outside hitter Maddie Davis gave Alaska their first point of the night. Two, four-point runs for the Seawolves extended the lead to 6-13, before two attack errors by Alaska gave Alaska Anchorage the first set 14-25.

Wong put the Nanooks up first with a kill to start off the second set, before UAA pulled away to make it 5-8. The Nooks inched back from 13-20 to 19-23, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Seawolves from capturing the second set 19-25.

In the third and final set, Wong tied it up for the Nanooks once again to make it 1-1, but four errors by Alaska gave the Seawolves a 2-5 lead. Despite freshman Jenna Hickel's two service aces at the 9-11 mark, Alaska Anchorage's Morgan Hooe led the Seawolves on a five-point run to make it 10-15. Alaska went on a three-point run themselves to rally back and make it 19-22, but two straight kills by Alaska Anchorage gave the Seawolves the set and match.

"I mean, our last three games have been against the top-three teams in the conference," Scott concluded. "We battled against Simon Fraser, took a set away from them, travel to Western Washington – which is a tough but fun atmosphere – and then face the number 10 team in the country. As long as we can bounce back from these past three games and say, 'hey, we hung in there and battled with some of the best teams,' I think it will help our mentality going forward in conference play."

The Alaska Nanooks hit the road to take on Montana State Billings in a single-game GNAC matchup. First serve in Billings is slated for 5pm AKT.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.