FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanook volleyball team hits the road to take on Western Oregon University and Saint Martin's University this weekend after hosting their Nanook Classic a week ago.
Follow Along
Live video and stats will be available at both locations. Western Oregon and Saint Martin's productions will be linked in the table above.
Last Time Out
The Alaska volleyball team is coming off of a 3-1 homestand at the 2021 Nanook Classic. Their first hosted-tournament since 2015, the Nanooks managed to knock-off some talented teams on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11. After falling to Cal State LA in their first game on Thursday, Sept. 9, the Nanooks rebounded and knocked-off Drury University in four sets. They followed up that win with a double-header on the final day, Saturday, Sept. 11, and ended their weekend 2-0 with a four-set win over Ursuline College in their early game before sweeping Colorado State Pueblo in the final game.
Cream of the Crop
The Nanooks find themselves with plenty of star-power. Up and down the lineup, Alaska boasts offensive and defensive stars who are finding recognition.
AveRee Reynolds moved into the GNAC top-10 for kills/set with 2.93. Over the weekend she led the Nanooks with 13 kills and five blocks against Cal State LA before posting a tournament-high 15 kills against Drury in their five-set win. She also ranks fifth in Division-II volleyball with 135 kills and eighth with 41 blocks.
Lahra Weber currently finds herself 19
th in the country in kills with 115. Alongside her arm, she is currently sixth in the GNAC with a 0.43 aces/set rate. She added 2.81 kills and 1.88 digs/set to her season totals during the Nanook Classic.
Cate Whiting finds herself at the top of the GNAC in assists with 440. With that total, she also finds herself second in the NCAA with total assists. Over the weekend she averaged 10.19 assists/set and boasted a tournament-high 51 assists against Drury. She even tallied a double-double in each match.
Team Totals
The Alaska Nanooks have plenty of individual success, but as a team, they find themselves a top the nation in total team blocks with 118.5, second in total attacks with 1,707 and kills with 750, second in team assists with 526, sixth in service aces with 74, second in digs with 751.
Scouting their Opponents
Western Oregon
Western Oregon finds themselves 2-5 to start the season. This past weekend, they traveled to Ellensburg, Wash. to play in the CWU/SPU Crossover. They fell short in all three matches they played in, losing to St. Cloud State in four sets, falling to Hawaii Pacific in five and Biola in five. Bailee Hartsook was their leader on the week with 45 kills and a pair of double-doubles. Aubrey Stanton leads the Wolves in assists with 148, collecting 110 of them over the three matches a week ago.
Saint Martin's
The Saints find themselves at 5-3 to start the season. After starting off 4-0, SMU ran into some trouble in Hawaii, going 1-3. After defeating Hawaii Hilo to improve to 5-0, the Saints fell in three straight to Cal State East Bay, Hilo and Chaminade. They were swept by both Hilo and Chaminade and managed only one set on East Bay. Tia Allen leads SMU in the offensive categories with 105 kills, 3.50 kills/set and 12 service-aces. Analise Hitchcock is the main distributor for Saint Martin's with 203 assists and a 6.77 assists/set average.
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.
