BILLINGS, Mont. - The Alaska Nanooks finished the 2026 season with a 3-1 win over the MSUB Yellow Jackets on Saturday, Nov. 14. With the victory, the Nanooks finish the year 12-16, 4-14 GNAC.
Montana State Billings won the first set 25-16, taking a 1-0 lead behind a .200 swing percentage while the Nanooks managed to hit even with seven kills and seven errors. In the second, the Nanooks turned their offense around and posted 11 kills and six errors while keeping MSUB to nine kills and a .045 swing percentage. Alaska won the second 25-17. After a one-point lead at 9-8, the Nanooks ran ahead 16-9. After taking a 21-17 lead, they then won four-straight points to even the match at 1-1.
Alaska's offense continued to get better throughout the day and it showed in the third. They posted 15 kills on five errors, swinging .333 while forcing MSUB into a negative swing percentage on seven kills and eight errors. The Nanooks took a 2-1 lead with a commanding 25-18 set three win. They used big runs to establish an early lead and to put the set away. After jumping ahead 9-5, they extended their lead to 13-7. MSUB slowly crawled back into the set, pulling within two at 16-14, but Alaska used another run to grow their lead to 22-14.
Cynphany Henderson then made it 24-18 before
Emma Freeman put the set away with a kill. The Nanooks started the fourth on fire. They quickly opened up with a 12-4 lead. Their lead reached 10 at the 19-9 mark before a small run by MSUB closed the gap, but it was too late.
The Nanooks used two kills from
Presley Engelauf and a kill from
Cori Leavitt to end the match with a 25-18 set-four win.
Inside the Numbers
- Emma Freeman and Cori Leavitt led the Nanooks with 14 kills each. The freshmen duo had 28 of the Nanooks' 51 kills today.
- Freeman swung .313 and added five digs, an ace and a block. Leavitt hit .296 and had two blocks, an assist and a dig.
- Kellan Flynn led the way with 19 digs for the Nanooks. She added a team-high four aces.
- Cynphany Henderson finished the year with another dobule-double, posting 39 assists, picking up 14 digs, and adding six kills. She also had two blocks and an ace.
- Tessa Onaga gave the Nanooks 12 digs, three assists and an ace in the win.
- Presley Engelauf led the Nanooks with four blocks. She had three block assists and one solo. She added eight kills and a dig.
- Peri Hoshock had three blocks on two assists and one solo. She had two kills, four digs, and an assist.
- Kelli Wright added even kills in the win.
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