ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Despite a comeback in the second and third set, the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team fell victim to in-state rival Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday night, dropping a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at the Alaska Airlines Center 3-1. The Nooks went 15-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 18-25 against the Seawolves to move to 11-17 overall on the season and 4-15 in conference play, while Anchorage improves to 19-9 overall and 14-5 in GNAC contests.

"The difference tonight was serve and serve-receive," head coach Brian Scott said on Tuesday. "We passed well for the majority of the night but there were a couple of times it got to us. Also, we just couldn't put the ball down tonight. Particularly the first set, we never got into a rhythm in serve-receive and it just didn't allow our offense to operate the way it should. In the second set, we passed really well throughout the entirety of it. We were able to go on a six-point run in the middle and we were able to recover."

Redshirt-senior outside hitter Maddie Davis led the Nanooks' offensive attack with a team-high 15 kills against the Seawolves. Davis' 15 kills and only three errors off of 38 total attacks gave her a hitting percentage of .316 in four sets. The Puyallup, Washington native also added six digs, one assist and two block assists in Anchorage.

Sophomore middle blocker Kim Wong was the only other Nanook to register double-digit kills on Tuesday night, registering 11 on the night. Wong was also a force at the net, collecting two solo blocks and two block assists, while also chipping in one digs.

Senior setter Rachel Nichols tallied a team-high 28 assists on the day, including eight digs. Sophomore libero Jenna Hickel tallied a team-best 21 digs in her hometown.

As a team, Alaska tallied 48 assists and 22 errors off 144 total attempts to post a team hitting percentage of .181. Alaska's best offensive set came in the second, as they registered 16 kills and only three errors off of 35 total attacks, averaging a .371 hitting percentage. The Nooks also went 15-for-22 to post a sideout percentage of .680.

The Nanooks outdid their opponent at the net, collecting 8.0 team blocks to the Seawolves' 7.0. Both Alaska and Alaska Anchorage combined for 68 digs on the night. The Seawolves won the serving game on Tuesday night, posting nine aces to Alaska's four and only tallying four.

"The third set was a battle back-and-forth until about the 23-19 mark," Scott continued. "And then we let them go on a run. We had some bad passes and they had an ace and they came out on top. I think those last six points in the third set would've helped us in the fourth set. If we only could've had a sideout in that time then things might've been different."

Alaska Anchorage was led by Leah Swiss, who tallied a game-high 22 digs while libero Keala Kaio-Perez tallied 24 digs and setter Casey Davenport posted 45 assists.

The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team hosts the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets in the 2017 regular season finale on Saturday, Nov. 18 at the Alaska Airlines Court. The match will also be Senior Day where seniors Maddie Davis, Ariana Horner, Rachel Nichols and Riley Podowicz will be honored prior to the game. First serve is slated at the Alaska Airlines Court at 2pm AKST.

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