FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team returned home early Sept. 22 morning riding a pair of wins against GNAC opponents. Waiting for them on Tuesday, Sept. 24 was not just a short week, but also their in-state rival, Alaska Anchorage. Anchorage came into Fairbanks riding an early-season four game winning streak and were looking to get revenge on the Nanooks for an Oct. 9 loss last season. Alaska made sure that revenge would have to wait for another time on Tuesday.
The Seawolves came out the gates with everything they had; they created opportunities out of nothing and overtook the 'Nooks in set one with a convincing win thanks to only three errors while the Nanooks suffered from 11 errors.
"We didn't play the cleanest defense, that would be the one bad takeaway from tonight, their slide was too much for us to handle to begin with. But, aside from that, a great team win tonight, the effort was amazing. UAA is a tough team, so I tip my cap to our girls for the way they fought."
The second set was where all the magic began for the 'Nooks. Alaska jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead before the Seawolves made a mid-set run. After UAA took the lead back at 16-15, the Nanooks grabbed it right back and ran with it, eventually winning set two, 25-19.
"AveRee [Reynolds], she was outstanding tonight. Cate [Whiting], she was outstanding tonight. We had a lot of other players come in and do their jobs when they were called upon."
AveRee Reynolds gave the 'Nooks everything she had on Tuesday night with 13 kills and a stellar .357 hit percentage. No other Alaska hitter was able to crack double-digit kills as the Seawolves held the duo of
Lahra Weber and
Kim Wong to a combined 15 kills. This, however, allowed for more of a spread offense.
Cate Whiting showed her vision off tonight with a near triple-double. She accounted for 34 assists and added 8 kills, a .636 hit percentage and 8 digs. Whiting's timely dumps played a big part in opening the court up for many other Alaska players;
Emily Moorhead tallied four kills and
Tatum Upchurch managed eight kills through it all.
The group effort is what willed Alaska to the win tonight. Sets three and four saw a lot happen, between the ground-shaking kills and celebrations brought on by Wong pounding the floor with both hands and Whiting silencing the crowd as she ran off with a sudden bloody nose, the Patty Center saw it all. After grabbing set three, 25-22, the Nanooks and Seawolves were set for what would be the final set.
UAA managed to grab the early lead. While the Nanooks had the set-lead, Anchorage held the upper hand in the early part of the fourth set. After grabbing a 16-14 lead, the Seawolves were starting to sense the idea of a fifth set. The 'Nooks had other ideas in mind. They grabbed eight of the next 11 points to go up 21-18, late.
A kill by
Lahra Weber from Whiting made the Patty Center grow louder as Alaska grabbed the 24
th point of the match. After a UAA serve and some back-and-forth play, Reynolds struck again, this time a cross-court attack that had no chance of return. The Nanooks took the fourth and final set, 25-22 for their third win against Anchorage, and their second in a row.
This game is in the early running for game of the year, but let's not forget that Alaska is back at Alaska Airlines Court at the Patty Center this Thursday, Sept. 26 at 11:30 a.m. for a rare afternoon game against Montana State, Billings. MSUB is off to a 2-0 start after defeating Western Oregon and Concordia to open up their 2019 GNAC schedule and will be looking to upend the undefeated 'Nooks.
That game will be available on the Alaska Nanooks Stretch Portal with both live stats and a live play-by-play video stream.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
