FAIRBANKS – The Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced their 2022 GNAC Volleyball All-Conference Team and individual awards today. The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team was represented by Jessa Long, who was a First Team All-Conference selection as well as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year recipient. 
 
"Jessa in an incredible defensive presence on the court!" said head coach Brian Scott on his grad-transfer libero, "When it's time for a big play to be made, we could always count on Jessa to make it happen. Jessa plays the game passionately and you can see her fierce competitive spirit with every dig, save, and flex she would make. It has been a pleasure to have her compete as a Nanook and represent our program. Not only has she succeeded as an athlete, but Jessa takes academics seriously and will finish her volleyball career with a second master's degree. There are not many student-athletes that have the drive and determination to accomplish all that Jessa has done on and off the court." 
 
Long joined the Nanooks this past offseason after spending three years as the libero for Florida A&M in the NCAA Division I Southwestern Athletic Conference. Her lone-season with Alaska did not disappoint. 
 
It took only four games for Long to earn her first GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honor after a strong opening weekend in Hawaii for the Nanooks. She went on to earn two more Player of the Week honors on Sept. 26 and Oct. 17, 2022. 
 
On the season, Long led the conference and ranked 57^th in Division II with 4.72 digs per set while also leading the GNAC and ranking 32^nd in the division with 543 total digs. On Sept. 24, 2022 against Western Washington in Fairbanks, Long tallied 34 digs, tying the fourth-most in Nanook single-game history. Her historic run did not end there. She then posted 32 on Nov. 10, 2022 at Saint Martin's in a five-set win over the Saints, tying the ninth-most in a single-game by a Nanook and solidifying herself in the Alaska Nanooks volleyball program history book by breaking the single-season total digs record. 
 
She ended the season with 543 digs, shattering the former record of 506, set by Jenna Hickel in the 2017 season.  This season, Long posted nine games with 20+ digs, including three with 30+. Only one time did she not reach 10+ digs in a single-game, going for 10+ in 29 of 30 matches. 
 
Long becomes the first Nanook since AveRee Reynolds (2019 GNAC Newcomer of the Year) to win an individual award and becomes the first Nanooks volleyball player to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award since its inception in 2012. 
 
2022 GNAC Volleyball All-Conference Team
Player of the Year: Eve Stephens, Alaska Anchorage
Coach of the Year: Chris Green, Alaska Anchorage
Defensive Player of the Year: Jessa Long, Alaska
Freshman Player of the Year: Eva Person, Simon Fraser
Newcomer of the Year: Olivia Wright, Northwest Nazarene
 
FIRST TEAM

Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
*+#^ Eve Stephens	Alaska Anchorage	OPP	6-1	Sr.	Palmer, Alaska (Colony)
*+# Calley Heilborn	Western Washington	OH	6-1	Jr.	Auburn, Wash. (Auburn Riverside)
*+ Tia Andaya	Central Washington	S/OH	5-9	Jr.	Ellensburg, Wash. (Ellensburg)
*+# Ellen Floyd	Alaska Anchorage	S	5-10	Sr.	Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola Catholic)
@$ Malia Aleaga	Western Washington	S	5-7	Jr.	Burien, Wash. (Kennedy Catholic)
Emma Daoud-Hebert	Central Washington	MB	6-0	So.	Woodinville, Wash. (Woodinville)
* Olivia Wright	Northwest Nazarene	MB	6-1	Sr.	Nampa, Idaho (Boise State Univ.)
$ Chloe Roetcisoender	Western Washington	MB	6-0	Sr.	Duvall, Wash. (Cedar Park Christian)
*+ Natalie Sullivan	Northwest Nazarene	OH	6-0	Sr.	Boise, Idaho (Bishop Kelly)
* Jessa Long	Alaska	L	5-4	Sr.	Dixon, Ill. (Florida A&M Univ.)
*+ Hannah Hair	Seattle Pacific	MB	6-1	Jr.	Walla Walla, Wash. (Walla Walla)
*+ Brooke Dexter	Simon Fraser	OPP	6-2	So.	Anchorage, Alaska (West Anchorage)
+ Ashley Kaufman	Central Washington	OH	5-8	Jr.	Hayden, Idaho (Lake City)
Bailee Hartsook	Western Oregon	OPP	5-9	So.	Sweet Home, Ore. (Sweet Home)

 
HONORABLE MENTION

Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
Lisa Jaunet	Alaska Anchorage	OH	5-10	Sr.	Saint-Denis, France  (State Coll. of Florida)
Talia Leauanae	Alaska Anchorage	L	5-8	Sr.	Wailuku, Hawaii (Kamehameha Maui)
Hannah Stires	Central Washington	L	5-5	So.	Nine Mile Falls, Wash. (Lakeside)
Kylie Thorne	Central Washington	OH	5-11	So.	Pasco, Wash. (Chiawana)
Caty Havekost	Montana State Billings	OH	6-2	Fr.	Arvada, Colo. (Faith Christian)
Paiten Langston	Montana State Billings	MB	6-1	Jr.	West Jordan, Utah (Yavapai CC)
Mckenzie Lee	Northwest Nazarene	S	6-1	Sr.	Eagle, Idaho (Eagle)
Tia Allen	Saint Martin's	OH	5-11	So.	Clayton, Wash. (Mt. Spokane)
Allison Wilks	Seattle Pacific	MB	6-1	Jr.	Bothell, Wash. (North Creek)
Jocelyn Sherman	Simon Fraser	OH	5-10	So.	Victoria, B.C. (Belmont)
Delaney Smith	Western Oregon	MB	6-2	Sr.	Salem, Ore. (Chemeketa CC)

 
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.