FAIRBANKS - Haylee Lyons and Tessa Onaga were named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball players of the week. Lyons was named the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week and Onaga took home the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honor. 

Both played a pivotal role in the Nanooks 3-1 trip last week in Hilo, Hi. On Thursday, Aug. 20, the Nanooks opened up 2026 with a 3-0 sweep of Hawaii Pacific. In that victory, Lyons led the offense with nine kills on 17 attempts, hitting an efficient .471. She added eight digs and dominated the service line with four aces for 13.0 points. Defensively, Onaga led the way with 17 digs; she added two assists and an ace in the season opener. The next day, Alaska moved to 2-0 with a four-set win over Chaminade. After dropping the first set, the Nanooks rallied off three-straight behind another strong day both offensively and defensively from Lyons and Onaga. Lyons set the tone on the attack, posting a match-high 16 kills (.333). She nearly had a double-double, finishing with nine digs, one ace and one block. 

Onaga was just four digs off of a single-match career-high, finishing the win over CUH with 28 digs. She led the serving game with two aces and dished out a pair of assists. Alaska dropped the third match of the week to Hawaii Hilo, but despite falling, Lyons and Onaga, once again, showed out. Lyons had a double-double with kills-digs showcasing both sides of the court. She finished with 15 kills (.317) and 15 digs. Tessa Onaga led the Nanooks with 19 digs in the four-set match and also added four assists and one ace. The 'Nooks got their revenge on Hilo the following day as they swept the Vulcans to claim the Hawaii/Alaska Challenge title. Four the fourth-straight time to open the season, Lyons led the offense with 12 kills. She added six digs, one assist, and one block. Onaga had a strong showing in the back row, picking up 23 digs in the three-set match. She added four assists in the win. 

After four matches, Haylee Lyons was named the Most Valuable Player. She finished with 52 kills, good for 3.71 per set and a .308 swing percentage. She added five aces and 4.14 point per set. On defense, Lyons finished with 38 digs, 2.71 digs per set, and two blocks. Tessa Onaga joined Lyons on the All-Tournament Team after an impressive four-match stretch. She finished with 87 digs, 49 more than the next Nanooks player. That total earned her 6.21 digs per set. In addition, she posted 79 serve receives, posting a .962 receiving percentage. Onaga finished with 12 assist and four aces as well, helping the Nanooks win the title. 

"Tessa [Onaga] had a phenomenal weekend! She is such a steady presence on the court, there is never a question if she will make the defensive play. In addition to her defensive, her serve really did a great job keeping teams out of system and scoring," said head coach Brian Scott. "The growth Haylee [Lyons] has made in one year is remarkable. She has made huge strides in her point scoring as an attacker and server. Her court vision and development of her hitting toolbox has put her at an elite level as an attacker. We are excited for her future!"

This was Haylee Lyons' first-career GNAC weekly honor and it was Tessa Onaga's third-career honor, and first this season. 

While not Fairbanks, the Nanooks do return back to the 49th State for their next set of matches. They will head to Anchorage Aug. 27-29 for matchups with Chico State, Texas Woman's University, and Lenoir-Rhyne. First serve is 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday. 

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