ANCHORAGE - The Nanooks volleyball team prevailed against the Texas Woman's University Pioneers on Friday afternoon in Anchorage. After Alaska won the first two sets, TWU won the third and fourth before the Nanooks took the fifth.
The Nanooks won the first set 25-23 before taking the second 25-20. TWU won the third 24-26 and the fourth 22-25. Alaska won the fifth 15-13 to move to 5-1 on the season. In the first set, both sides surrendered seven errors. Alaska had one more kill than TWU with 13 and outhit them .146 to .132. TWU opened up with a 0-6 lead and eventually extended the lead to 3-11. The Nanooks turned a corner and found some momentum slowly crawling back into the set. At the 18-22 mark, Alaska rattled off five-straight behind kills from
Presley Engelauf,
Haylee Lyons, and Cori Leavit. After taking a 23-22 lead, Engelauf and Lyons teamed up for a block and then Leavitt put the set away with a kill.
In the second, the Nanooks ran ahead 4-1. They extended their lead to 10-7 on a service error,
Cynphany Henderson ace and kill. TWU came back to take a two-point lead before a back-and-forth run by both. Alaska nearly took the second after a 19-19 tie, winning five-straight points, but after TWU snapped the run, Engelauf put it away with a kill. Texas Woman's went on to win the third and fourth set. The third was a battle but TWU ultimately took it 26-24. In the fourth, TWU erased a five-point deficit and took five of the final seven points to win it 22-25 and force a fifth. The Pioneers earned the first but
Lucy Braegger got the 'Nooks on the board with a kill. The Nanooks faced a three-point deficit but did not falter.
Cynphany Henderson picked up a solo block and TWU had an error to pull Alaska back within one. The Nanooks then used four-straight to take an 11-9 lead on three Henderson serves and one ace. After a 13-13 tie, the Nanooks scored on a service error from Texas Woman's Univ. and
Peri Hoshock put the match away with a kill.
Inside the Numbers
- Alaska finished the victory with 64 team kills. Lucy Braegger led the Nanooks with 13 kills on 42 total attacks. Braegger added three blocks in the victory.
- Peri Hoshock had a big game for the Nanooks. She led the block party with five. She also added seven kills, two assists and a huge 14 digs.
- Presley Engelauf and Kelli Wright both followed with 10 kills of their own. Engelauf had three blocks and Wright had a block and a dig.
- Tessa Onaga led the Nanooks with 28 digs. She was one of four in double-digits alongside Hoshock. Haylee Lyons had 10 digs in the win alongside five kills.
- Cynphany Henderson was the final Nanook in double-digit digs, finishing with 13. She posted a double-double with her match-high 39 assists. She added four kills, five aces, and three total blocks.
- Alaska hit .162 as a team and finished with 56 assists, 94 digs, 18 blocks, and eight aces.
What's Next
The Nanooks play Lenoir-Rhyne tomorrow at 1 p.m. in their final match of the UAA Seawolf Invitational. Tomorrow's match can be viewed on GNAC Network.
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