ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanook volleyball team etched their names into the history books as they snapped a 10-year drought in Anchorage as they knocked off the Seawolves on the UAA campus for the first time since Sept. 18, 2010. They picked-up a five-set win on Saturday, Mar. 27 with the scores; 23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 5-25, 15-13.
The Nanooks, now 4-3 on the season, were quick to forget about their three-set loss the night before to UAA, rebounding in big fashion. After falling in the first set, 23-25, the 'Nooks returned the favor by the same score but with a win of their own. They kept the momentum rolling into the third set, pulling away for a 25-19 set-victory. The Seawolves did not take kindly to trailing 1-2 and made quick-business of the fourth set, 5-25, pushing rivalry game to a fifth-set that the 'Nooks eventually won, 15-13.
In set one, the Seawolves jumped out to a quick three point lead. That didn't slow down the 'Nooks. A kill by
Lahra Weber tied things at 7-7 before the Nanooks took a brief 8-7 lead off of a
Rilee White service ace. Anchorage strung together a few points, taking the lead and pushing it to 12-16 before the 'Nooks put together another run. Alaska rallied off five straight points, taking the lead, once again, 17-16. They extended that lead to 20-18 and 22-20 but UAA found their stride late, coming up with four consecutive points and stealing a 23-25, set one win away from the 'Nooks. Alaska managed to move on and strike again in set two. This time, the Nanooks got to play from behind. After falling behind 3-8 early, Alaska battled back and tied things up at 12-12. Two kills and a service ace later, the Nanooks were down, once again, but battled their way back. UAA seemed to be closing in on a commanding 0-2 lead until Whiting took over the serve. After falling behind 19-23, Alaska found the final six points of the set through a service error, three attack errors and a kill from Weber and Dodge.
All of the momentum swung to the Fairbanks bench as they tied the game up at 1-1 and won their first set while in Anchorage this weekend.
The third set was one of the most dominant sets by the Nanooks. After trailing 4-9 early, they flipped the script, once again, and made it 20-16 behind kills from
Zoey Keene,
Markie Miller,
Emily Moorhead,
AveRee Reynolds,
Lahra Weber and
Cate Whiting. UAA gave it one last go but after it became 23-19, Moorhead connected for the set-winning kill following a service error on UAA.
The fourth set was quick. UAA took it easily and forced a fifth-set.
The fifth and final set reminded everyone watching virtually of how intense the Fairbanks, Anchorage rivalry really is. These two teams went out swinging. UAA jumped out to an early 1-3 lead but a Keene kill and a UAA error tied things up. After trading points up to the 7-7 tie, the Nanooks then put together four points, taking an 11-7 lead. UAA forced another tie at 11-11, but a kill from Weber and Reynolds and a final service ace from
Zoey Keene gave the 'Nooks a fifth-set victory and match win over UAA.
Weber led the way for Alaska with 16 kills. She added a .231 hit percentage and nine digs. Next in line was
AveRee Reynolds with 11 kills and three digs.
Dani Dodge was the team-leader in digs with 19.
Cate Whiting added 13 and
Rilee White tallied 10. Whiting also added 27 assists.
The Nanooks are in action again next weekend, Apr. 2-3 at 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.
