RALEIGH, NC - The Nanooks volleyball team opened up the Shaw Volleyball Invitational with a quick sweep of St. Augustine's on Friday afternoon. Alaska moved to 5-8, 0-1 GNAC on the season with a commanding 25-18, 25-16, 25-10 sweep of the Falcons. 

Karli Nielson and Rilee White led the offensive attack for Alaska as they posted 46 team kills and swung a team percentage of .475. In the first, the Nanooks posted 15 kills and only two errors to grab a 25-18 set one win. In the second, they posted another 15 kill set, committing three errors and holding the Falcons to eight kills and a .143 swing percentage. In the third, the Nanooks posted 16 kills and shut the Falcons attack down, keeping them to six kills and five errors; Alaska ran away with the third, completing the sweep with a 25-10 win. The Nanooks bested the Falcons in every major team category, posting 66 points to St. Augustine's 28. They outkilled the Falcons 46-24, out-served the Falcons 12-2 in aces, out-blocked 8-2, out-assisted them 44-23 and out-dug them, 28-18. 

In the first, Alaska jumped ahead 5-2 behind a Rilee White kill and a Grace Steurer ace. They used more offense from Kristina Head and Lily Stewart to improve their lead to 8-4 before a small run from the Falcons made it 9-8 Nanooks. St. Augustine's pulled within one throughout a lot of the first until Karli Nielson made it 18-16 Nanooks, sparking a four-point run, making it 21-16 'Nooks. Nielson sparked the final run for Alaska, grabbing two kills in the final three points to grab a 25-18 win. Ainsley Smith tallied the other kill in the final three points. In the second, the Nanooks jumped out to another big and early lead. They ran ahead to 8-4 behind kills from Josie Jansen, Head, Smith and Stewart. The Falcons pushed back, pulling within two at 9-7 but Alaska responded with nine of the next 11 points to make it 18-9. A small run by St. Augustine's was shut down by kills from Ella Bines, Nielson and White, making it 21-14 before the Nanooks ran away to finish off the second. Bines and Nielson connected on the attack again to make it 24-15 before an attack error on the Falcons gave the 'Nooks a set two win and 2-0 lead. 

The final set was quick work for the Nanooks. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead as Ainsley Smith started the run with two aces. Nielson then tallied a pair of kills before the Falcons got on the board. St. Augustine's crawled back within four at 10-6 but the Nanooks responded with seven-straight to make it 17-6. The Falcons put one on the board to stop the run, but another run immediately followed as the Nanooks quickly made it 23-7 before finishing the third off with a 25-10 final score. The offense was wide-spread in the third as four 'Nooks tallied more than two kills and seven total 'Nooks recorded a kill. Nielson and White each led the way with four third-set kills, Bines followed with three and Stewart posted a pair. Cynphany Henderson, Head and Jansen all tacked on the final three kills. 

Nielson ended the day with 15 kills and a .667 hit percentage. She added six digs, five assists, two aces, one block solo and one assist. White followed with 10 kills and a .421 hit percentage while adding a game-high nine digs, three aces, two assists and one block assist. Josie Jansen led the way at the net with one block solo and three block assists. Kristina Head posted a game-high four aces and Ainsley Smith led the distribution with 17 assists. Cynphany Henderson followed with 14 of her own assists. The Nanooks are back in action with a pair of games tomorrow. They take on Mount Olive at 7:00 a.m. AKST and will end their North Carolina trip with Shaw University at 11:00 a.m. AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks volleyball team, follow @NanooksVB on Instagram or X, or like the Alaska Nanooks Volleyball team page on Facebook.