NAMPA, Idaho – The Alaska Nanooks fell in straight-sets to NNU on Friday, Apr. 2. This loss drops the Nanooks to 4-4 on the season. They fell in set one, 24-26, before falling in the next two sets, 19-25 and 20-25.
In set one, Nazarene jumped out to a quick 1-5 lead. After getting down 3-9, and 10-19, the Nanooks made a big push to eventually tie the game at 24-24. During the run, the 'Nooks got help from
Lahra Weber, who tallied three kills, and
Zoey Keene, who also added three. After tying it up late, NNU struck back with back-to-back points, taking the win and spoiling the comeback for Alaska. In set two, NNU, once again, jumped out to a 1-5 lead. Back-to-back
Emily Moorhead kills made it 5-8 after a small run, but the Nighthawks jumped back out to a 10-14 lead. Alaska picked up four of the next five points, making it a 14-15 game behind kills from
AveRee Reynolds,
Rilee White and Moorhead. Unfortunately, NNU tacked on the next five points through three aces from Casey Kispert. The two teams traded points until the Nighthawks put the set away with a kill from Abbey Blum.
The third and final set once again led to a deficit for Alaska as the Nighthawks jumped out to a 1-6 lead. We responded with a 5-2 run, making it 6-8. Following the run, the game became back-and-forth with a tie at 12-12 but NNU pulled away a few points later with a 1-6 run of their own, making it 15-22. The 'Nooks attempted one last comeback, scoring three in a row with
Karli Nielson, Moorhead and Weber tallying kills, but the lead was too much and NNU finished off the Nanooks 20-25 for the sweep.
Emily Moorhead and
Lahra Weber led the way for the Nanooks in the kills column as both recorded nine. Moorhead added a .412 hit percentage to her name while Weber swung at a .240 rate.
Cate Whiting checked in with 25 assists and seven digs.
Dani Dodge led the way with 10 digs and Weber added eight of her own.
Zoey Keene had the lone solo block for Alaska, adding two block assists. Moorhead led the way in the block assists column, collecting five.
The Nanooks and Nighthawks are back in action tomorrow, Saturday, Apr. 3 at 11:00 a.m. AKT.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
