BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Alaska Nanooks fell to the Western Washington Vikings on Thursday, Oct. 22. The loss drops the Nanooks to 11-11, 3-9 GNAC on the season.
In the first set, the Nanooks hit in the negatives while WWU posted nine kills and four errors to swing .147. Alaska managed just a -.021 swing percentage on 12 kills and 13 errors. Western jumped out to a 6-3 lead before the Nanooks rushed for four straight to take an 8-7 lead.
Emma Freeman picked up a pair of kills in the run while WWU accounted for two errors on the other points. Both sides traded more runs as the Nanooks had another stretch of five straight points, taking a 14-13 lead, but WWU finished strong. They returned the favor, winning 10 of the next 12 points to take a 23-16 lead. Alaska pulled to within four, but a service error by the Nanooks followed by a Western ace gave them the 25-19 first set victory.
The second set was closer and saw improved offense from both sides. The Nanooks hit .234 with 15 kills and four errors while WWU posted a .245 swing percentage and had 16 kills with four errors as well. The set began back-and-forth before the Vikings found three straight points to take a 13-10 lead. Alaska immediately fought back to tie it at 13-13, but a late run from the Vikings made it 20-16. After trailing by four, the Nanooks used four straight points to tie the set at 22-22 behind kills from
Cori Leavitt and
Cynphany Henderson, a service ace from
Ashlyn White and an attack error by the Vikings. Unfortunatley, Western pulled off three points in a row to win the second 25-22. The third set was even closer and saw Western earn the sweep 25-23.
The Vikings opened up with a 6-0 lead. They extended it to 8-1 before the Nanooks slowly made their way back. After trailing 10-5, Alaska used a 7-1 run to pull even at 11-11. This run was helped by five attack errors by the Vikings. The Nanooks found a 15-14 lead on a
Haylee Lyons service ace before the two sides went back and forth. The Nanooks found another lead at 21-20, but Western Washington held close, eventually taking a 24-23 lead before an ace gave them the sweep.
Inside the Numbers
- The Nanooks were outhit .188 to .109 in tonight's match. They did, however, finish with more kills than WWU, 41-39.
- Alaska also had the advantage in aces 5-4, as well as digs 73-69.
- Emma Freeman was the lone Nanooks attacker to post double-digit kills. The freshman finished with 12 kills while hitting .407.
- Cynphany Henderson had a double-double, finishing with 14 assists, 13 digs and adding four kills and two blocks.
- Ashlyn White led the Nanooks with 15 assists tonight, just missing a double-double with eight digs. She added a match-high three aces.
- Tessa Onaga had 22 digs tonight in the loss. She added six assists. She is now 153 digs from breaking the all-time program record.
- Kellan Flynn supported the back row with 15 digs.
What's Next
The Nanooks will face Simon Fraser on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. SFU fell to Alaska Anchorage tonight in Burnaby, B.C., 3-2.
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