FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team returns to their home court for the first time in two weeks, hosting the No. 10 Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on Thursday, Oct. 26 before taking on the No. 25 Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday, Oct. 28 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action. Both Thursday and Saturday's matches will be held at the Alaska Airlines Court and are scheduled to start at 7pm AKT.
Where to Watch & Listen
If fans aren't able to make this weekend's games in Fairbanks, all Alaska Nanooks volleyball games for the remainder of the season (home and away) will be streamed live for free through the Alaska Nanooks Stretch Internet Portal (link posted above). Fans have the option to watch the stream, follow the live stats or both. Please be advised that when on the road, Alaska volleyball games are produced and streamed through the respected home school.
Last Time Out
For the second-straight week, the Nooks split on the road as Alaska fell 1-3 against Saint Martin's last Friday before bouncing back and overcoming a two-set deficit to defeat the Seattle Pacific Falcons 3-2 on Saturday for their third conference victory of the weekend.
GNAC Standings
With a conference mark of 3-9, the Alaska Nanooks now sit in eighth place in the conference standings with a .250 winning percentage. The Nanooks are one of only six teams within the GNAC to have registered 10-or-more wins throughout the 2017 season. As of Wednesday, NNU and Western Washington are tied for first place in the conference with a 11-1 GNAC record.
En Route
Alaska's 10th victory of the season over Seattle Pacific last Saturday marks the first time Alaska has registered double-digit wins in one season since the 2009 campaign, which saw 12 victories. The 10 wins also marks a new single-season record for head coach
Brian Scott since taking over the program in July of 2015. If Alaska can make it to 16 wins on the season, it will tie the Nanooks' most wins in a single season since joining the GNAC.
Record Watch
The Nooks have four players on this year's squad looking to either break onto the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team's All-Time Leaders list or move up from their current standings. Here are records we've been looking out for:
- Individual Match Highs:
- Individual Season Highs (2017)
- Digs:
- Hickel currently sits at 370 digs and needs 409 by the conclusion of the season to crack into the top-10
- Solo Blocks:
- Riley Podowicz has registered seven solo blocks this season and needs 14 by the conclusion of the season to tie for 10th place
- Individual Career Highs:
- Kills:
- Davis has registered 658 kills throughout her career as a Nanook (2013-17) and will tie for tenth place if she can make it 775
- Assists:
- Rachel Nichols already sits in seventh place with 1,415 career assists in her two seasons as a Nanook (2016-17) and will move up to sixth place if she can surpass 1,436
- Service Aces:
- Podowicz has collected 108 service aces in her career as a Nanook (2014-17) and will crack the top-10 if she can conclude the season with 117
Conference Leaders
Four Nanooks currently rank in the top-10 in the GNAC in a variety of different statistical categories including hitting percentage, assists, service aces and digs. Sophomore middle blocker
Kim Wong ranks fourth in the conference in hitting percentage, posting 116 kills and only 33 errors off of 261 attempts to average .318. Senior setter
Rachel Nichols ranks 10th in the conference in assists, averaging 5.99 per set (467 total), while freshman setter
Cate Whiting sits in sixth place in the conference in service aces, averaging 0.35 per set (25 total). And last but not least, sophomore libero
Jenna Hickel ranks seventh in the conference in digs per set with 4.68 after tallying 370 so far this season.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
