ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team swept the final two games of the Seawolf Volleyball Invitational, defeating Lubbock Christian 3-1 and Pittsburg State 3-0. With the two wins, the Nanooks move to 6-2, 0-0 GNAC on the season. 

In game one of the day, the Nanooks defeated the Chaps of Lubbock Christian behind 25-23, 25-17, 25-22 set wins. They dropped the second set 15-25, their only set-loss of the day. In the first, the Nanooks hit .424 while LCU hit .379, but the Nanooks tallied three more kills, which proved to be the difference in the two-point win. In set two, the Nanooks posted 10 kills but six errors while LCU put up 12 kills and only a pair of errors. That momentum came back to the side of the Nanooks as they swung .480 in the third on 15 kills and three errors, winning the set 25-17. They posted 18 kills in the final set, winning it 25-22 over the Chaps. 

In the first, the Nanooks jumped ahead 4-1 behind an Ainsley Smith kill and trio of Ella Bines kills. Lubbock Christian tied it at 5-5 before the 'Nooks tallied three-straight, making it 8-5. After trading points, the Nanooks' lead grew to 16-12 on an Elena Guc kill. That lead stayed until the 21-19 point when LCU pulled within two on a service-error by the Nanooks. They then pulled within one at 24-23, but a Rilee White kill put the set away for Alaska. Set two saw the Nanooks trail early; LCU jumped ahead 3-6 and eventually pushed it to 5-11. The Nanooks made a run, pulling within four but the Chaps quickly answered back, making it 11-21 with a strong run. The Nanooks pulled within eight at 15-23, but LCU snagged the second set.

Alaska used an early comeback to run way with set three. After falling behind by three, the Nanooks tied it at 10-10 before making it 13-10. After making it 14-12, the 'Nooks used five-straight points to make it 19-12 behind two Ella Bines kills and a Karli Nielson kill. They then used a Taylor Overn ace to extend their lead to 22-13. LCU made a small run but Kristina Head put the set away with a kill, ending it at 25-17. The fourth set was similar to the third as the Nanooks had to make a comeback early on. Lubbock Christian quickly made it 1-6 before the Nanooks made a run when trailing 5-9. Head got the run started with a kill and once it ended, the Nanooks found themselves tied at 9-9. The Chaps scored the next three, but after falling behind by a pair, the Nanooks used four-straight to take the lead back at 14-13. They used another set of runs to push ahead to 23-17 before LCU had one final run at it. They scored five of six points, making it 24-22 but Rilee White posted one final kill, giving her 18 on the day and gave Alaska the four-set victory. 

She led the way with 18 while Karli Nielson added 11 and Ella Bines posted 10 of her own. Jessa Long collected 18 digs while Kinley Erickson picked up 10 of her own. Ainsley Smith and Taylor Overn split the distribution duties on the day as Smith posted a team-high 26 while Overn followed close behind with 25. 

In game two, the Nanooks made quick work of Pittsburg State, sweeping the Gorillas 25-20, 25-18, 26-24. The Nanooks offense stayed hot, hitting .250 in the straight-set sweep. They tallied 14 kills in set one, 14 in set two, and 16 in set three. In the first, the Nanooks made it 4-2 right off the bat. Pittsburg State made a run, pulling within one at 10-9, but the 'Nooks scored the next four, making it 14-9. They soon made it 16-10 behind a Karli Nielson kill and Gorilla attack-error. After stopping a run, the Nanooks made another run, extending their lead to 21-15, eventually taking the set 25-20. 

Set two saw Pittsburg State jump ahead by three. Quickly, the Nanooks responded with four straight to make it 6-5 and they eventually made it 14-6 on eight-straight points. The Gorillas made a few runs, but the Nanooks lead was too much to overcome. Pittsburg State made it 19-14, but after pulling within five, an Elizabeth Jackson kill made it 20-14 and started the 'Nooks final run to take the set 25-18. 

In the third and final set, the Nanooks were up big before Pittsburg State made a late run. The 'Nooks moved ahead 10-5 and quickly extended it to 19-11. After a kill by the Gorillas, they scored six-straight points to pull back within two at 19-17. They eventually battled all the way back to take the lead at 20-21, giving the Nanooks quite the scare. After it became 21-22 Pittsburg State, the Nanooks took back the lead before a 24-24 tie. Rilee White took the end into her hands and put away the Gorillas with back-to-back kills, winning it for Alaska, 26-24. 

Karli Nielson led the way for the Nanooks in their second game of the day. She finished with 11 kills and four digs while Rilee White ended with 10 kills and 11 digs for a double-double. Jessa Long ended with a team-high 14 digs while Kinley Erickson followed with a dozen of her own. Ainsley Smith finished with 20 assists and Taylor Overn added 18. 

Thanks to their performances all weekend, Jessa Long and Rilee White were named to the All-Tournament Team, joining Kayton Genenbacher of Lubbock Christian, Lisa Jaunet of Alaska Anchorage, Abigail Nua of Point Loma, Taylor Roberts of Emmanuel, and Janae Thurston of Pittsburg State.

The Nanooks come home next week as they host the Denali State Bank Ice Block Classic starting on Thursday, Sept. 1.

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.