FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team made it seven-straight wins with their sweep of Montana State Billings on Saturday, Sept. 25 at the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium in the Patty Center. This win moved the Nanooks to 11-5, 4-0 GNAC.
It was dominance for Alaska from the first-serve as the Nanooks rolled to a 25-8 opening-set win behind a .500 swing parentage and 12 kills. Set two started fast for Alaska, once again, before pulling away for a 25-18 set win. They closed out MSUB with a 25-19 set three win, outhitting the Yellow Jackets .135 to .029. Outside of blocks, the Nanooks won every team category, outhitting Billing 41-17, out serving the Jackets, 13-2, posting 36-14 in assists and out digging the Jackets, 45-27.
In set one
Cate Whiting served the Nanooks out to an 11-0 lead. After an attack error on the 'Nooks, Alaska pushed the lead out again, this time to 13-1. After Whiting was done serving, it was still all Nanooks. At the 16-6 point, Alaska grabbed five-straight, making it 21-6 on an attack error by MSUB. After two Jackets' points,
Zoey Keene ended the first with a service-ace catching the baseline. Alaska took the opening set 25-8.
Alaska took set two as well, jumping out to a quick 10-4 lead on a
Karli Nielson ace. Back-to-back kills from
Sophie Schilling and
Cate Whiting made it 12-5. A small run from the Jackets pushed the score to 12-9, however, the Nanooks responded with their own run, led by kills from
Emily Moorhead,
Rilee White and Nielson. After an Ohms ace made it 21-15, the Nanooks ran away with the set two win, 25-18 as
Lahra Weber ended it with a kill down the line.
The third and final set was one of runs. The Nanooks jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead before MSUB stormed back to pull within two at 12-10. After that, the Nanooks pushed their lead to 18-10 on two kills from
AveRee Reynolds and one from White. The Jackets pulled back within five at 23-18, but two kills from Nielson put it away for Alaska, giving them their seventh-straight win and moving them to 4-0 in GNAC play. Nielson led the way with 11 kills and a hit percentage of .400, adding two service-aces to her scorecard.
Cate Whiting dished out 28 assists, including kills from eight of the Nanooks on the court.
Rilee White continued her hot-streak on offense, adding nine kills while also picking up seven digs.
Dani Dodge led all with 15 digs in the three-set match.
The Nanooks hit the road this next week and will square-up with Simon Fraser and Western Washington.
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.
