RALEIGH, N.C. - The Nanooks volleyball team completed the weekend with a pair of victories over Mount Olive and the host team, Shaw. They won both matches in four sets and ended the Shaw Invitational 3-0 to move to 7-8, 0-1 GNAC.

Game One
In game one, the Nanooks beat the UMO Trojans 3-1, taking the sets; 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23. The matchup with the Trojans was an offensive outburst as the two sides posted 55 (UMO) and 67 (Alaska) kills. The Nanooks outhit the Trojans .278 to .218.

The match was filled with back-and-forth volleyball. Alaska opened up the first set with a quick 5-3 lead, led by a pair of Lily Stewart kills. The first saw the most tie scores with a dozen and it also saw a game-high eight lead changes as the two sides battled runs on each side of the net. Karli Nielson became the difference maker for the Nanooks down the stretch as the junior posted nine first-set kills, including four kills in the final five points to secure the 25-21 win. The second set saw the 'Nooks battle back after falling behind and trailing for much of the set. 

Mount Olive jumped out to to an early lead and held a multipoint lead for much of the second, growing it out to a four-point lead on nine separate occasions. Despite a deficit for much of the set, the Nanooks never faltered; Mount Olive had a look at set-point with a 24-23 lead but Ella Bines posted a trio of kills to win the set for Alaska. She tied the set at 24-24, gave the Nanooks the lead at 25-24 and eventually finished it off with a kill, 26-24. She ended the second set with seven kills, same as Lily Stewart, to lead the 'Nooks to a 2-0 lead. Mount Olive took the third set 25-22. They led for much of the set, opening up with a large lead that the Nanooks chipped away at. Alaska eventually grabbed their first lead of the set at 14-13 on a Lily Stewart kill, but Mount Olive quickly responded to regain and keep the lead for the set three win. 

In the fourth, the Nanooks faced another late comeback. After trading leads in the first 10 points, the Trojans found themselves with a three-point lead at the 18-15 mark. Nielson picked up another kill to kickstart the 'Nooks comeback. The kill spurred a run that eventually saw Alaska tie the set at 20-20 and take a 22-20 lead on a pair of kills by Bines and Nielson. Nielson would collect three more kills to help the Nanooks win the fourth 25-23 and win the match 3-1. 

Two Nanooks ended the day with 15+ kills and four had 10+ in the win. Nielson led the way with 19 and a .350 hit percentage. Ella Bines followed with 15 kills and a .289 hit percentage and Lily Stewart (13) and Rilee White (10) rounded out the attack. Nielson also added eight digs and an ace. Stewart ended with two digs, one block assist and an assist. Four 'Nooks had 10+ digs as Grace Steurer led with 21. Rilee White had a double-double with 17 digs alongside her 10 kills and the setter duo of Cynphany Henderson and Ainsley Smith posted double-doubles as Henderson had 23 assists and 10 digs and Smith had 26 assists and 10 digs. 

Game Two
After dropping the opening set, the Nanooks won the final three against the host-team, Shaw. The Bears took set one 25-17 behind a poor offensive showing by the 'Nooks but Alaska turned around and grabbed the second and third set by the same score of 25-21 and the fourth set 25-19.

With the win, the Nanooks have now won four-straight and improved to 7-8, 0-1 GNAC. 

In the first, the Nanooks hit .029 and posted seven kills with six errors. Shaw posted a 15-kill, six-error first and outhit the Nanooks by over .200 to grab an opening set win. In the second, the Nanooks found their stride and never looked back. They jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in the second on kills from Ella Bines and Karli Nielson. Shaw battled back to tie the set and sparked back-and-forth runs from both sides. After a Rilee White kill gave the 'Nooks a one-point lead, the Bears grabbed a lead on three-straight points. The two sides traded leads until the Nanooks posted a run of four points to take a 19-15 lead. Kristina Head and Nielson tacked on the kills for the Nanooks.

Kills from Lily Stewart and White ended the set for the 'Nooks as they grabbed a 25-21 win to tie it up at 1-1. In the third set, Alaska opened up with a 9-5 lead behind Ella Bines, Kristina Head, Josie Jansen, Karli Nielson and Lily Stewart kills. A Shaw kill halted the run, but the 'Nooks picked right back up with three more points to make their lead 12-6. Their lead stuck through the 17-10 mark before Shaw made a small run. After the 'Nooks made it 22-16 on a Bines kill, the Bears pushed back to pull within three at 22-19. Karli Nielson got the 'Nooks within a point of the set win with a kill to make it 24-21 and an Ainsley Smith ace put the set away for Alaska as they took a 2-1 lead. 

The fourth saw the Nanooks move ahead early with an 8-6 lead on two White kills and a kill from Head and Nielson. Their lead grew to 18-11 on a five-point run and eventually got to 22-12 on 13 points in 16 points. Shaw made a run of their own to pull back within four at 23-19 but Lily Stewart put the game away with back-to-back kills. Alaska grabbed the 25-19 win and left North Carolina with a 3-0 record on the weekend. Ella Bines led the way for the Nanooks with 13 kills and a .478 hit percentage. Kristina Head and Karli Nielson followed with nine kills each. Grace Steurer had a team-high 19 digs while adding seven assists and an ace. Nielson added 14 digs and Rilee White had 16 with her seven kills and four assists.

The Nanooks return to GNAC play next week as they travel to Bellingham, Wash. and Burnaby, B.C. for matchups with Western Washington and Simon Fraser. 

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.