BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team dropped to 11-7, 4-2 GNAC after a hard-fought five-set loss to the #20-ranked Western Washington Vikings. They pushed WWU to five, eventually falling, 13-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 13-15.
Western Washington breezed through the Nanooks in set one, winning, 13-25 as Alaska posted a -.088 hitting percentage compared to WWU's .379. Despite the early trouble, the Nanooks responded and hit .295, holding the Vikings to .156. They capitalized off of six Viking errors while posting only three of their own and outhitting the Viks, 16-13 in kills. Alaska battled again in set three, dropping it 23-25 while posting 15 kills and adding four aces. They won set four and pushed it to a fifth before dropping the fifth.
In the first set, Western jumped out to an 0-4 lead, eventually pushing it to 3-8. The 'Nooks stormed back behind kills from
AveRee Reynolds and
Karli Nielson, making it 8-8 in the blink of an eye. After their run, the Nanooks would only go on to score five more points. WWU put together a 2-10 run, making it 11-22 and eventually winning it, 13-25.
The Nanooks flipped the page and moved on as they won a historic second-set. The Nanooks picked-up the first point of the set as Reynolds grabbed another kill. They ran their lead out to 8-5 on a
Rilee White kill, but WWU answered back, tying it at 8-8. The set turned into a back-and-forth matchup until Alaska grabbed a 14-13 lead. They rolled into a 17-13 lead, riding kills from
Karli Nielson,
Sophie Schilling,
Cate Whiting and White. They eventually ended the set on a Nielson kill, grabbing their first set-win against Western Washington since Sept. 22, 2011. Set three saw the same back-and-forth action take place. Western and Alaska traded runs, opening the middle-set before the Nanooks pulled ahead 18-16. WWU tied it at 19-19 before finding the final run, stringing together the final two points, breaking the tie and winning the third set 23-25.
The fourth set was the same score, however, this time in favor of Alaska. After falling behind 5-10, the 'Nooks ran back to tie it at 11-11 on an
Emily Moorhead and White block. They rode the momentum swing out to a 14-12 lead before the Vikings slowed them down. WWU pushed ahead on three-straight points, making it 16-18 but Alaska, once again, answered. After making it a tie ballgame, 23-23, the Nanooks picked up a kill from Reynolds and ended things on a block from Schilling and Reynolds to force a fifth-set.
The final set had it all. Western jumped out to an early 3-5 lead before Alaska pushed back to within one at 9-10. Despite runs for the Nanooks, they could not figure out the Vikings in the final set. Pulling within one was all Alaska could do as WWU; they pulled within 13-14 on back-to-back kills from Schilling and White but a WWU kill ended it, 13-15.
AveRee Reynolds led the Nanooks with 15 kills while
Karli Nielson and
Rilee White followed behind with 14 each. White added seven digs and five aces.
Cate Whiting posted 51 assists and 25 digs while adding four kills.
Dani Dodge added 24 digs and
Miya Ohms joined them with 19 of her own.
Sophie Schilling led the way at the net with four total-blocks.
The Nanooks return home next week for matchups with Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington University.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter, @AlaskaNanooksVB on Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
