BILLINGS, Mont. – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team snapped their four-game losing-streak on Saturday, Oct. 26 against the Montana State, Billings Yellow Jackets. The five-set victory gets the 'Nooks back to .500 on the regular season and improves them to 10-10, 7-5 GNAC.

The Nanooks jumped out to an early 1-0 set-lead by winning the first set 25-20. Behind five first-set kills from Lahra Weber and four from Kim Wong, the Nanooks grabbed an early 8-3 lead and pushed it to 20-14. The Yellow Jackets made a small run at Alaska, getting it back to 24-20, but an AveRee Reynolds kill from Cate Whiting clinched the first set victory for the Nanooks.

Sets two and three went the way of the Yellow Jackets. Montana put up unimaginable numbers on the attack, tallying 17 kills and one team error in set two, claiming a .457 swing percentage and the win, 16-25 and then again in set three, putting up 18 kills on only five errors for a 21-25 set-victory. Alaska responded well. Set four saw those numbers switch to the 'Nooks half of the court. As a team, Alaska put up 15 kills and held Montana to seven, outhitting the Yellow Jackets, .500 to .091.

Whiting kept finding multiple Alaska attackers, keeping the offense spread. Wong led the Nanooks with 13 kills and a .571 hit percentage. Weber and Reynolds combined for 24 kills, with 12 apiece. Whiting added eight of her own and Emily Moorhead checked in with six. The Nanooks grabbed the fourth set victory, 25-12, setting themselves up for their third straight five-set match.

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a quick 0-2 lead with two consecutive kills by Bayli Monck; they kept that lead into the side switch, taking a 5-8 lead into the timeout. Alaska responded quickly, tying the game at 8-8 with three straight points as Wong and Whiting assisted on consecutive blocks, followed by a solo block from Whiting. This queued the momentum shift. After a 10-10 tie, the Nanooks went on to claim five of the next six points, including a Weber service ace to send the 'Nooks home victorious with a 15-11 final-set victory.

Head coach Brian Scott felt his team made adjustments mid-game which helped them get this victory, "Our defense started off a little rocky and MSUB was doing a good job attacking us. We were missing some block and defensive assignments but finally got some of that cleaned up in the final two sets. Fortunately, we were doing a good job serving and putting some pressure on their serve receive."
Whiting ended the day two kills away from a triple-double as she finished with 41 assists, 12 digs and eight kills. Makena Overbey led the way in the back-row with 14 digs and five assists.

The Nanooks will remain on the road this upcoming week with matches on Oct. 31 against Central Washington in Ellensburg, Wash. and then they head to Nampa, Idaho on Nov. 2 for a matchup with Northwest Nazarene.

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