LACEY, Wash. – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team earned their fourth-straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory on Saturday afternoon, sweeping the Saint Martin's Saints 3-0 at the Marcus Pavilion on the SMU Campus.

The Nooks went 25-15, 25-18 and 25-20 against the Saints to improve to 7-10 overall and 5-5 in conference play, while SMU drops to 2-14 overall and 0-10 in league contests. Alaska's five GNAC victories already ties Alaska's conference wins record from the 2017 season, head coach Brian Scott's most since joining the GNAC prior to the 2015 season.

Furthermore, Alaska now sits tied for third in the GNAC with Simon Fraser, Concordia and Seattle Pacific, each with a 5-5 conference mark.  

"Another great team effort with multiple players making big contributions today," Scott said on Saturday. "Cate played excellent tonight, by distributing the ball and scoring points. Our defense played solid once again, with our blocking being extremely impressive. I felt it really forced them into taking swings they didn't want to take."

The Nanooks' offense was rolling on Saturday, as Alaska registered 37 kills and only seven errors off of 100 total attempts for a .300 team hitting percentage. The Nooks also tallied 53 digs, 33 assists, four aces and a season-best 16.0 team blocks.

Individually, sophomore outside hitter Lahra Weber paced Alaska's offense by tying the match-high with 11 kills. Weber did not record one attacking error off of 23 total attempts for a .478 hitting percentage. The Berlin, Germany native also picked up nine digs, one assist, one ace and one block assist to tie for a team-best 12.5 points.

Helping Alaska's offense was sophomore setter Cate Whiting, who picked up a match-best 28 assists. Whiting also produced the match's best individual hitting percentage with six kills, zero errors and 11 attempts for .545 average. The Rapid City, South Dakota native also registered nine digs, six block assists and one ace for 10.0 points.

Defensively, the Nooks were backed by freshman libero Makena Overbey, who picked up a team-best 16 digs.

The Nanooks' 16.0 team blocks were led by junior middle blocker Kim Wong, who posted nine block assists and one solo block, while also chipping in seven kills to tie for a team-best 12.5 points. At the net, redshirt-sophomore outside hitter Markie Miller picked up four block assists and one solo block, while sophomore middle blocker Emily Moorhead posted five block assists.

The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team returns to the Alaska Airlines Court next week, hosting in-state rival Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday, Oct. 9 before taking on Montana State Billings on Thursday, Oct. 11. Both matches are scheduled for 7pm AKT.

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