FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team fell to their in-state rivals, the UAA Seawolves, on Friday, Apr. 16, 2021 in four sets. The loss drops Alaska to 5-5 on the season heading into their final game of the revised schedule.
The Seawolves jumped out to a quick 0-2 lead behind first and second set scores of 19-25 and 15-25. The Nanooks rebounded, picking up a third set victory, 25-18 before UAA ended it, 17-25 in the fourth set.
The Nanooks were able to hang around in set one, but multiple runs by the Seawolves ended up being the spoiler for Alaska. After a kill by
Emily Moorhead tied things at 4-4, the Seawolves found five-consecutive points on three attack-errors by the 'Nooks and kills from Eve Stephens and Nicole Blue.
Cate Whiting ended the scoring-drought with a dump off, making it 5-9. A small three-point run for the Nanooks made it a two-point game, but UAA quickly made it 9-14 on three more kills. The 'Nooks final charge came at the 12-18 mark. They strung together four of five points, making it 16-19 but the Seawolves overpowered them, collecting five of the next six points, eventually winning 19-25.
Set two saw a similar storyline. After jumping out to a 2-1 lead behind kills from
Lahra Weber and
AveRee Reynolds, UAA quickly took the lead back. After four ties, and back-and-forth volleyball, the Seawolves put together a four-point run, widening their lead to 7-11. The 'Nooks found a run of their own, however, tying things at 12-12 on a Reynolds kill. When the game was tied at 14-14, Anchorage pushed across their biggest run of the set, taking the 11 of the next 12 points, winning the set 15-25. The Nanooks weren't done quite yet. They jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in the third set and managed to maintain the offensive runs by UAA. A service-ace from
Cate Whiting made it a 12-7 game before Alaska took three of the next four points, making it 15-9. Anchorage managed to tie the game at 17-17, but head coach
Brian Scott's team pulled together and won eight of the next nine points for the set-three victory 25-18.
In set four, the Nanooks had to play from behind for the second half of the set. After taking an early 9-7 lead, the Anchorage attack became too much for the 'Nooks. Anchorage took eight of the next 10 points, making it 11-15. One more tie occurred at 16-16 behind an attack error by UAA, however, UAA closed on a 1-9 run, taking the fourth set 17-25 and the match 1-3.
AveRee Reynolds led the way for the Nanooks in kills, ending the night with 11.
Lahra Weber was the only other Nanook in double-digits with 10.
Dani Dodge ended the night with four service-aces.
Emily Moorhead led the way with four total blocks.
Cate Whiting had another solid night distributing the ball, she ended with 29 kills.
Dani Dodge led the way with 17 digs. Whiting added 11 of her own.
The 'Nooks end their season tomorrow on Apr. 17, 2021 against UAA. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. AKT. Live video and live stats are available on AlaskaNanooks.com.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
