BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team battled against the No. 8-ranked team in the nation on Saturday night, but the Western Washington Vikings came out on top and swept the Nanooks 3-0 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference matchup at the Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham. The Nanooks went 12-25, 18-25 and 15-25 against the Vikings to drop their overall record to 10-15 and 3-13 in GNAC play while WWU improves to 21-3 overall and 15-1 in conference contests.
"We lost the serve and serve receive battle tonight," head coach
Brian Scott said on Saturday. "They served aggressively and kept us from being able to use our middles in the offense. If we would have been more disciplined in our passing, we could have scored more points and given WWU a better fight."
Throughout the three sets, Alaska was held to only 32 kills on the night with 18 errors from 117 total attempts to average a .120 hitting percentage. Alaska was led offensively by sophomore middle blocker
Kim Wong, who collected seven kills on the night and only two errors from 16 attacks to post a .312 hitting percentage.
Senior setter
Rachel Nichols led the team in assists on Saturday night, tallying 17 while also registering 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the season.
Alaska had two other players tally double-digit digs against one of the best hitting teams in the nation on Saturday night, as sophomore libero
Jenna Hickel registered a team-best 14 digs while freshman outside hitter
Lahra Weber chipped in 10.
As a team, the Nanooks combined for 50 digs, 31 assists and one service ace.
Alaska's best set came in the second when they were able to register 11 kills and six errors from 41 attempts for a .122 hitting percentage and also went 12-for-24 for sideout percentage of 50.
The Alaska Nanooks return to their home court this week, hosting the Concordia Cavaliers on Thursday, Nov. 9 before taking on the Western Oregon Wolves on Saturday, Nov. 11. Both GNAC matches are scheduled for a 7pm AKT start time at the Alaska Airlines Court.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
