NAMPA, Idaho - The Nanooks volleyball team earned a five-set win over the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on Thursday night. Alaska won sets one, three, and five: 25-21, 17-25, 25-21, 16-25, and 15-9. With the win, the Nanooks move to 10-3, 2-1 GNAC.
In the first, the Nanooks posted a .342 swing percentage behind 16 kills and just three errors. NNU swung .179 with 12 kills and five errors. The two sides traded early leads with the Nanooks moving ahead 8-5 before the Nighthawks stormed back to take a one-point lead at 8-9. This led to a back-and-forth opening set with traded leads before the Nanooks grabbed a 19-17 lead, the first multi-point lead since 14-12. This generated the run the 'Nooks were looking for as they ended the set on a 6-2 run to grab the 25-21 first-set win. Alaska swung in the negatives in the second set, posting 11 kills and 12 errors. NNU swung efficiently, hitting .213 with 12 kills and two errors. NNU ran away with the set, winning and tying the match at 1-1, 17-25.
In the third, the score was the same as the first. Alaska posted a .159 swing percentage with 14 kills and seven errors while the Nighthawks hit .050 on eight kills and six errors. The Nanooks ran ahead 8-3 before pushing it to 15-7. NNU battled back to pull within three at 17-14 but the Nanooks withstood the run and pushed ahead to grab a 2-1 lead with a 25-21 set win. In the fourth, NNU posted 16 kills while Alaska only posted nine and the Nighthawks ran away with a 16-25 set win to force a fifth.
In the fifth set, the Nanooks surrendered just one error to eight kills while NNU posted four kills and a pair of errors. Alaska jumped all over NNU with an early 8-2 lead. NNU pulled to within three at 10-7 but soon the Nanooks had match point at 14-7. NNU put up a pair of points before
Peri Hoshock and
Emma Freeman teamed up for a block and the winning point.
Inside the Numbers
- Alaska posted 58 kills in the win, outkilling NNU by six, 58-52. They had one more ace and 13 more digs in the win.
- Cori Leavitt led the Nanooks attack as the freshman finished with 18 kills, six digs, two aces, two blocks and one assist.
- Cynphany Henderson had a historic night for the Nanooks as she posted a triple-double with 34 assists, 14 digs, and 10 kills. She added a block solo and block assist in the win.
- Haylee Lyons joined with double-digit kills, finishing with 12 kills. She added eight digs and an assist.
- Kellan Flynn led the Nanooks with 20 digs. She added five assists and an ace. Tessa Onaga had 12 digs and an ace.
- Peri Hoshock led the way with four blocks. She added six digs, three kills, and two assists.
What's Next
The Nanooks head to Central Washington on Saturday, Sept. 19 for a noon AKST matchup with the Wildcats.
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