PORTLAND, Ore. – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team dropped their second game of the GNAC season on Oct. 12 to Concordia University (Portland) in a long five-set match, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22, 16-25, 11-15. This loss drops the Nanooks to 9-7, 6-2 GNAC.
Kim Wong and
AveRee Reynolds led the offensive attack for the Nanooks but in the end, it was not enough. Alaska came out on the short end of the kills through one. Concordia outhit the 'Nooks 12-15 in the first set and managed to grab the set by a score of 21-25. The Nanooks responded strongly, winning set two and three by a score of 25-23 and 25-22. Alaska won those sets with their attack, claiming the kill category 27-25 through those two sets.
Wong and Reynolds showed how spread the Nanooks offense could be combining for 32 kills.
Lahra Weber added 10 of her own. These kills made up a lot of
Cate Whiting's day as well, as the Jr., setter put up 47 assists in the five-set match. Unfortunately the spread attack wasn't enough. After taking a 2-1 set lead, the Cavs defense took over.
CU won the block game, 10-17, keeping the 'Nooks attackers at bay, late in the game. Concordia took the fourth set, 16-25 to send the match to a fifth-set. Concordia got off to a hot-start in the fifth set, grabbing an early 4-8 lead at the side-switch. Alaska responded well, getting within one, but the Cavs had the momentum; they extended their lead to 9-13 and put it out of reach. The final set score was 11-15 in favor of Concordia who earned their fifth GNAC win.
Head coach
Brian Scott had this to say about Concordia's overall gameplay, "It was a tough battle tonight and unfortunately we came out on the wrong side. Concordia did a great job blocking and defending; it made it tough to score points. We came away with some things to work on and will get ourselves ready for next week."
The Nanooks saw four members of the team reach double-digits in digs. Whiting led the way with 21,
Makena Overbey had 19 and
Tatum Upchurch was right behind with 18. Weber added 14 and
Mica Chen found 10.
Alaska returns home this week and will face the #2 Western Washington University on Thursday, Oct. 17 and will face Simon Fraser (B.C.) on Saturday, Oct. 19; both games will be played at the Patty Center and start at 7:00 p.m. AKT.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
