LACEY, Wash. - The Nanooks volleyball team kicked off their final road-trip of the regular-season with a five-set win over the Saint Martin's Saints. With the win, the Nanooks improved to 17-12, 7-10 GNAC. They are one win from matching their win total from a season ago.
Saint Martin's jumped out early with a set one win 25-21, outhitting the Nanooks .304 to .250. The Nanooks posted more kills than the Saints, but surrendered one more error than SMU. In the second and third, the Nanooks ran away with the set wins; they took the second 25-15, posting a .269 hit percentage and forcing the Saints into more errors than kills for a 25-15 win before winning the third 25-16 behind 15 kills and only four errors. SMU took a long fourth set, 25-23, before the Nanooks early lead led them to a 15-12 fifth set win.
In the first, the Nanooks pulled ahead 3-2 on back-to-back
Karli Nielson aces. The Saints responded with four-straight points, taking a 6-3 lead. The 'Nooks battled back to pull within one at the 9-8 and 10-9 mark before tying it at 11-11 on a block by
Ella Bines and
Elizabeth Jackson. Alaska then responded to a two-point deficit with a three-point run, taking back the lead at 14-13 on a
Rilee White kill. The Saints then hit their stride with five-straight, making it 18-14. The Nanooks managed to pull within one but that was as close as they would get in the first; Saint Martin's capped the set one win off with a service ace, taking the win 25-21. Heading into the second, the Nanooks quickly grabbed a 3-0 lead. They soon pushed that lead to 8-3, using kills from
Kristina Head and
Karli Nielson. SMU pulled within one at 11-10 before tying it at 12-12, but the Nanooks used seven-straight points to make it 19-12. After SMU cut down the run,
Elena Guc got the 'Nooks back on the run with a kill. Alaska went on to get six of the final eight points, taking set two 25-15.
The Nanooks maintained their momentum into the third set. SMU pulled ahead by a pair early, but Alaska quickly regained the lead and started to run away with it after a 9-9 tie. The Nanooks scored five of six points, extending their lead to 13-10 before making it 17-12 on an SMU error.
Ainsley Smith then tallied a service ace, making it 21-14 before the 'Nooks scored seven of the final nine points, taking a 2-1 set lead with a 25-16 set three win. Nielson ended set three with a kill off of a pass from White. In the fourth, the Saints put up a fight, forcing a fifth. The two sides traded early leads before SMU found themselves up 8-6 on a three-point stretch. Their run continued, the Nanooks managed to pull close, but the Saints had a 14-11 lead near the midway point of the set. Alaska managed to string together five of six points, taking a 16-15 lead, but Saint Martin's answered with seven of eight points, making it 22-17. This sparked the 'Nooks offense;
Kristina Head started the run with a kill and joined White for a block a point later before a Nielson ace and another Head kill tied things at 22-22. Unfortunately SMU grabbed three of the final four points, ending the run at the end and forcing a fifth set.
Alaska had a golden start to the fifth and final set. They jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, before growing that lead to 8-2. After making it 9-3, the Saints capitalized on Alaska errors, pulling within four at 10-6. SMU pulled within three at 11-8 before an
Ella Bines kill,
Rilee White kill and
Elena Guc kill made it 14-10. The Saints pulled two points together before an SMU service error ended it at 15-12, giving the Nanooks the five-set win.
Karli Nielson led the 'Nooks offensively with 17 kills and a .256 hit percentage. She added four digs, four blocks and three aces.
Rilee White added four aces and 17 digs in the victory.
Kristina Head compiled a double-double, posting a 13 kill and 11 block night while adding three digs for the 'Nooks. Guc joined the others in double-digit kills with 11 and a .435 hit percentage. She had four blocks and two digs as well.
Jessa Long became the single-season total digs record holder for the Nanooks volleyball program with her 32 digs tonight. On her 22nd dig in the fourth set, she hit 507 this season, passing the old record holder, Jenna Hickel, who posted 506 during the 2017 season.
The Nanooks now head to Western Oregon and look for revenge on the Wolves after falling on Sept. 8 in Fairbanks to open GNAC play. That game will be played this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. AKT in Monmouth, Ore. at the New PE Building on the campus of Western Oregon.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.
