GNAC Sports

November 20

Seawolves Lose In Regional Semifinals to Top-Seed CSU San Bernardino


Lundberg	Scott

The best season in Alaska Anchorage volleyball history came to an end Friday night as the Seawolves fell 25-22, 25-22, 25-13 to nationally second-ranked Cal State San Bernardino in the NCAA Division II West Regional semifinals at Coyote Gym.

The fifth-seeded Seawolves (23-8) got 12 kills from Jackie Matthisen and 10 digs from fellow sophomore outside hitter McKenzie Moss, but couldn't slow down the power attack of the Coyotes, who hit .372.

Top-seeded CSUSB (31-1) was led by 17 kills from outside hitter Jane Chafeh to advance to Saturday's regional final against sixth-seeded Cal State L.A., which upset nationally third-ranked UC San Diego, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22, earlier in the evening.

The Seawolves played catch-up through the entire first set, finally pulling within 22-20 and 23-21 on Matthisen kills. UAA fought off one set point on a kill by Ashley Bates, but the Coyotes clinched the set on a kill by Megan Johnson.

UAA took a 19-16 lead in the second and appeared poised to make it a long night for the defending NCAA national runners-up. But CSUSB rallied for the next four points and pulled away from a 22-22 tie to take go up by two sets.

The Seawolves then led 9-6 early in the third before the Coyotes took over for good, scoring 19 of the final 23 points.

UAA got four blocks from middle blocker Cortney Lundberg and six kills and three aces from Moss in the match.

Lundberg finished the season as the GNAC's block leader averaging 1.14 per set. UAA setter Calli Scott also won a GNAC statistical title earning 24 assists to finish the year with a 10.64 average.

Laurie Yearout and Emily Jepsen, both of Western Washington, finished second in the two categories with 10.57 and 1.12 averages, respectively.

UAA's loss snapped a school-record 13-match winning streak. The Seawolves finished the season with the second most victories in school history and tied for the best winning percentage (.742).

November 19

Seawolves Advance To Regional Semifinals

Jackie Matthisen had a match-high 19 kills and made three consecutive huge plays in the final three points of the match to lift Alaska Anchorage to a 29-27, 28-26, 21-25, 16-25, 15-12 win over 14th-ranked Hawaii Hilo in a quarterfinal match of the NCAA Division II West Regionals Thursday at San Bernardino, Calif.

The Seawolves (23-6), who have won 13 straight, will faced top-seed Cal State San Bernardino in Friday's semifinals. The Coyotes swept Seattle Pacific, 25-13, 25-19, 25-16 in Thursday's final quarterfinal match.

The Seawolves (23-7), who posted their first-ever NCAA post-season victory, also got 11 kills from outside hitter McKenzie Moss as they handed the Vulcans just their second loss of the season and avenged an 3-0 setback in Oahu in September.

The fourth-seeded Vulcans (25-2), champions of the Pacific West Conference, were led by 12 kills apiece from outside hitters Josimara Pinheiro and Kawena Cubi-Otineru.

UAA pulled out nail-biting wins in the first and second sets to take an early 2-0 advantage.

In the first, the Vulcans fought off three set points to tie it 24-24 and Pinheiro gave her team 25-24 and 26-25 leads with a pair of kills. Tied at 27-27, Pinheiro hit into the block of Marie Borowikow and Ashley Bates. Moss then registered a kill on an off-speed attack to give the Seawolves the set.

The second set was tight throughout, featuring 14 ties and six lead changes. Trailing 24-23, Bates rescued the Seawolves with a kill just inside the end line, and Bates and Borowikow followed with a solo block. Cubi-Otineru ripped a kill to make it 26-26, but Borowikow notched one of her six kills, and Moss came through on set point again.

But UAA fell behind early in the third and fourth sets as the Vulcans seemed to grab all of the momentum.

Hilo then led 8-6 in the fifth when the teams switched sides of the court, and took a 10-7 lead moments later. That provided the cue for UAA's final rally, with Borowikow and Moss making consecutive kills, and UHH's Morgan Bonney hitting the ball out of bounds.

The Vulcans took a 12-11 lead on Pinheiro's final kill before UAA rallied with the final four points of the match. Cortney Lundberg (8 kills, 6 total blocks) slammed a kill into the middle of the court for yet another tie, and Matthisen overpowered Bonney on a joust at the net to go up 13-12.

The next point was almost a carbon copy as Matthisen met Katie Swenson at the net and forced the Vulcan setter into a double-hit.

With libero Stacie Meisner serving on match point, the Vulcans were unable to get off an attack, and UAA took advantage by setting Matthisen, who blasted a cross-court kill, setting off a Seawolf celebration.

Meisner finished with a match-high 29 digs, while Scott - the GNAC Player-of-the-Year - dished 45 assists and contributed on three of UAA's season-high-tying 15 blocks.

"Our block was a lot stronger than the first time we played them," said UAA head coach Chris Green, whose team extended its school-record win streak to 13. "I think we played nervous throughout, but the players have really bought into our philosophy and stuck with it. Just like all season, they never panicked."

Bates, a senior middle blocker, notched four kills and matched her career-high with seven total blocks (all assists). Borowikow also had total seven blocks.

Cal State San Bernardino 3, Seattle Pacific 0

Seattle Pacific's first trip in three years to the NCAA Division II West Regional volleyball tournament game to an abrupt end on Thursday night as the Falcons fell 25-13, 25-19, 25-16 to CCAA champion Cal State San Bernardino.

The Coyotes (30-1) scored the first nine points of the match and never relinquished control, although the Falcons (17-12) did manage a handful of one-point leads through in the second and third sets.

No one got into double-figure kills for the Falcons, who hit just .039 for the night. Outside hitter Priscilla Collings had six as did middle blocker Kylie Johnson.

Freshman setter Shelby Swanson had 12 assists, and senior setter Cortney Weedman had nine, finishing her two-year career with 1,042.

Libero Anna Herold picked up 11 digs to move into the top five on the all-time Seattle Pacific list for career digs with 1,193. She finished with 614 digs for the year, breaking her own school single-season record.

San Bernardino hit .245 for the match, and was led by the 13 kills of Ashtin Hall.

After never being in contention in the first set, the Falcons forged leads of 4-3, 5-4 and 13-12 in Set 2. They were down just one at 18-17 when the defending West champion Coyotes, who were the national runners-up last season, ran off four straight points for a 22-17 lead.

Seattle Pacific had a 4-3 edge in Set 3, but San Bernardino put the next four points on the board and never let the Falcons get closer than two the rest of the night.

November 12

UAA Wins 11th Straight to Clinch GNAC Title, Automatic Berth

Jackie Matthisen, McKenzie Moss and Marie Borowikow combined for 36 of Alaska Anchorage's 48 kills and the Seawolves clinched their first-ever GNAC volleyball title with a 25-18, 25-22, 25-16 sweep of Northwest Nazarene Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage.

UAA (21-7, 13-2) extended its win streak to a school-record tying 11 matches getting double-doubles from Moss and Matthisen, 39 assists from setter Calli Scott and an impressive 26 digs from libero Stacie Meisner.

The Seawolves, who complete their regular-season Saturday hosting second-place Seattle Pacific, will now advance to the NCAA West Regionals next weekend at either San Bernardino or San Diego, Calif.

CSU San Bernardino is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the region and has the inside track to host the regional. But, UC San Diego is right behind the Coyotes at No. 2.

Seattle Pacific (17-10, 11-4) swept Alaska Fairbanks, 25-17, 25-15, 27-25 Thursday night at the Patty Center but were mathematically eliminated from title contention by UAA's victory. The Falcons, ranked No. 7 in this week's regional poll, however still have a great opportunity to advance to the playoffs as an at-large team.

SPU remained one match ahead of third-place Montana State Billings, which extended its win streak to six with a 12-25, 25-13, 25-20, 30-28 win over Central Washington at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Yellowjackets (17-10, 10-5) got 21 kills and three blocks from Jen Boe to remain one match ahead of idle Western Washington (9-6) for third-place in the conference.

Meanwhile, Western Oregon (8-19, 5-11) completed its season with a 25-21, 25-21, 26-24 sweep of Saint Martin's at Lacey, keeping the Saints (3-22, 0-15) winless in the GNAC.

Matthisen had 13 kills and 13 digs, Moss added 12 kills and 10 digs and Borowikow chipped in with 11 kills and hit for a .417 percentage (11-1-24) in UAA's victory. Scott orchestrated a Seawolf offense that hit for a .263 percentage.

Meanwhile, Meisner keyed the UAA defense, which didn't allow any Northwest Nazarene player to record more than seven kills. The Crusaders (15-13, 8-7) finished with 36 total kills - seven each by Cammy Dranginis and Becky Flores - and hit for a .189 percentage suffering their first season series sweep to UAA since 2001.

UAA, which will advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1990 and only the third time overall, controlled the match throughout, facing its only two-point deficit early in the first set.

NNU made things interesting in the second frame, rallying to tie it 21-21, but Matthisen smashed two kills in the next three rallies as the Seawolves took control.

Meisner came one dig shy of tying the school record for digs per set in a match (9.0 by Cherie Knox vs. Regis, 10/20/89), adding three assists and serve ace on match point.

“I thought Stacie (Meisner) and Jackie's (Matthisen) defense really set the tone and kept us in a lot of points,” said UAA second-year head coach Chris Green, whose squad was picked seventh in the GNAC's preseason coaches' poll.

“They made some incredible, diving digs on the back row. Marie (Borowikow) really gave us a huge lift, too.

“Tonight was really a team effort by everyone – really a reflection of the way we've played all year. Even the support from the bench during matches has been terrific and really inspired us to this accomplishment.”

Sarah Risser had 13 kills and Seattle Pacific hit for 109 points better than Alaska Fairbanks (.237 to .128) in its victory. Amber Johnson converted on eight of 17 kill tries (.412) and Paige Hoffman and Lindsey Wodrich each had seven kills.

Wodrich also had four service aces, while Johnson contributed four blocks.

SPU libero Anna Herold had 13 digs, increasing her season total to 586 and breaking her own school record of 579 she set last year as a freshman.

Meanwhile, Cortney Weedman had 20 assists to increase her career total to 1,007. She's the 39th player in GNAC history to record 1,000 or more assists.

Jessica Hill led Alaska Fairbanks (11-15, 5-10) with 10 kills. Megan Thigpen had nine kills and Erica Gage earned six blocks.

Boe hit for a .300 average (21-6-50) and also had 18 digs in MSUB's victory.

The Yellowjackets also got 17 kills and 20 digs from Devon Crotteau, 25 digs from Jill Trabing and seven kills and six blocks from Jody Lutz.

Kady Try led Central Washington (15-11, 7-8) with 12 kills. Marcy Hjellum contributed 10 kills and Bri Gregory had eight blocks.

After losing the first set by 13 points, the Yellowjackets rallied for 12 and five-point victories before snapping a 28-28 tie in the decisive fourth set on kills by Boe and Crotteau.

“We beat a really good team on its home floor,” MSUB first-year head coach Steve Smith. “They're such a tough team to play against because they're always so prepared and have such a great defensive team.

"The biggest reason we won tonight was because we played a little better defense than they did."

Irene Walters had 13 kills and Laura Sakala had 10 kills and five blocks in Western Oregon's victory. WOU outhit the Saints .208 to .075 as Danielle English had a match-high 20 digs.

Malia Ibarra paced the Saints with 10 kills. Teilissa Tua had nine kills, three aces and a pair of blocks to account for 13 points.

November 9

UAA Clinches Title Tie As Seattle Pacific Loses To Central Washington

Erin Norris

Erin Norris got kills on the final two points of the match to snap a 13-13 tie and give Central Washington a 27-25, 25-12, 15-25, 15-25, 15-13 win over Seattle Pacific Monday at Brougham Pavilion.

The match was the resumption of one suspended last Thursday when the power went out at 24-24 in the first set.

Central's victory enabled Alaska Anchorage (12-2) to clinch at least a tie for its first-ever Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball title.

The Seawolves, who host SPU (16-10, 10-4) on Saturday, need either one win or one SPU loss to wrap up the GNAC title and the conference's automatic berth in next week's NCAA playoffs. Both teams play twice this week.

Kady Try led the Wildcats (15-10, 7-7), who have won three straight, with 14 kills. Norris and Marcy Hjellum had 10 kills each.

Sarah Risser and Lindsey Wodrich led Seattle Pacific with 14 kills. The Falcons also got 11 kills from Amber Johnson, 10 blocks from Kylie Johnson and 40 digs from Anna Herold.

Herold's dig total is the second-highest this fall in the GNAC. CWU's Brandie Vea, who had 29 digs Monday night, had a GNAC season-high 43 in a four-set match against BYU-Hawaii on Sept. 4.

SPU built a 12-9 lead in Game 5, only to see Central Washington run off four straight points and take a 13-12 lead. Wodrich hammered the last of her 14 kills to get the Falcons back into a 13-13 tie before Norris got the last two points for the Wildcats.

November 7

Yellowjackets Win Fifth Straight; Move Into Third-Place in Conference

Crotteau

Devon Crotteau had 17 kills and hit for a .538 percentage (17-3-26) in leading Montana State Billings to a 25-20, 25-22, 25-11 volleyball victory over Alaska Fairbanks Saturday night at Alterowitz Gymnasium in Billings.

MSUB outhit Alaska Fairbanks .306 to .115 in extending its win streak to five.

The win also moved the Yellowjackets (16-10, 9-5) into third place in the conference race after Central Washington (14-10, 6-7) defeated Western Washington, 11-25, 25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 15-11 at Nicholson Pavilion, snapping a seven-match losing streak to their arch-rivals.

In an afternoon game, Seattle Pacific (16-9, 10-3) pulled to within 1 1/2 matches of GNAC leader Alaska Anchorage (12-2) with a 25-14, 25-11, 25-18 home win against Saint Martin's.

Meanwhile Northwest Nazarene (15-12, 8-6) won its Homecoming contest before a crowd of 1,632 defeating Western Oregon, 25-17, 20-25, 25-17, 25-19.

Crotteau had 11 digs in Montana State Billings' victory. The Yellowjackets were also led defensively by Jill Trabing with 15 digs and Morgan Moss with 10. Melissa Porter had five blocks. Setter Hillary Morrison earned 34 assists.

Melissa Refuerzo and Heather Lyons each had nine kills for the Nanooks (11-14, 5-9). Lyons also had a team-best 10 digs.

Erin Norris and Kady Try had 13 kills each and Central Washington hit .286 as a team in the deciding fifth set in its victory.

Kristel Baeckel had the match-clinching kill in the fifth set, although it was the hitting success of Norris and Try that carried the Wildcats to the win in the final frame.

That duo combined for seven of Central's eight kills in the fifth as the Wildcats committed just two hitting errors in 21 attempts. CWU never trailed in the set breaking a 6-6 tie with consecutive points as part of a 6-2 run.

In addition to Norris and Try's 13 kills each, Marcy Hjellum had eight kills and Bri Gregory added six kills and four aces.

Western Washington (16-10, 9-6) was led by Geary, who was the lone Viking with more than eight kills as she had a match-high 18.

Defense dominated the match as both teams were charged with 30 attack errors. The Wildcats won the match with a .111 attack percentage, while the Vikings hit just .099. For both squads it was their fourth lowest percentages of the season.

Among the defensive standouts for CWU were Brandi Vea with 18 digs, Bri Gregory with five blocks and Hjellum with 15 digs and three blocks.

Western Washington, which had 17 team blocks, got 10 blocks from Emily Jepsen and nine from Kathryn Mertens. Bailey Jones had six blocks and Allison Gotz had a match-high 26 digs.

Priscilla Collings had 10 kills and Robin DeJong participated in six of Seattle Pacific's nine blocks in the Falcons' victory. Sarah Risser had nine kills and nine digs.

Saint Martin's (3-20, 0-14) finished with a minus .011 hitting percentage. Teilissa Tua and Kirstyn Druzianich each had six kills. Tua also had four blocks.

Cammy Dranginis had 15 kills and five blocks and Lindsay Grant had 12 kills to lead Northwest Nazarene past Western Oregon. The Crusaders also got nine kills from Carly Dranginis and eight from Alaina Barber.

Jackie Bourdon had 22 digs and Haley Hevern had 18 as NNU, which hit .148, held Western Oregon to a .137 hitting percentage.

The Wolves (7-16, 4-11), who have lost eight straight, were led by Samantha Ward with 13 kills and Sylvia Herrold with 10. Danielle English had 25 digs and four WOU players had four blocks - Lisa Martini, Laura Sakala, Sylvia Herrold and Ward.

November 5

Vikings, 'Jackets Earn Victories

Outside hitter Marlayna Geary posted her 11th double-double of the season with a match-high 20 kills and 13 digs to lead Western Washington to a 25-13, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22 GNAC victory over Northwest Nazarene Thursday at the Johnson Sports Center.

At Billings, Montana State Billings (15-10, 8-5) swept past Western Oregon, 25-15, 25-11, 25-22 to remain just one-half match back of the third-place Vikings (16-9, 9-5).

Meanwhile, a power failure forced suspension of Seattle Pacific's match with Central Washington at Brougham Pavilion. The first set was tied 24-24 at the time of the suspension. The match will continue Monday at 7 p.m. at Brougham.

Middle blocker Emily Jepsen had 14 kills and a match-high five blocks and outside hitter Megan Amundson added 13 kills as the Vikings earned a season series split with the Crusaders (14-12, 7-6).

Libero Allison Gotz had 28 digs and setter Laurie Yearout had 52 assists and 12 digs for Western which nearly doubled NNU's hitting percentage, outhitting the Crusaders .271 to .141.

Three players were in double figures for Northwest Nazarene. Lindsay Grant led NNU with 12 kills. Cammy and Carly Dranginis had 11 each. The Dranginis sisters also combined for seven blocks, four by Carly.

Devon Crotteau led Montana State Billings in its win with 15 kills, while Jody Lutz had 10 kills. Melissa Porter had four blocks, three of them solos.

MSUB outhit the Wolves (7-18, 4-10) .270 to .059 as Jill Trabing led the defense with 25 kills. Laura Sakala had 11 kills to lead Western Oregon.

November 4

Seawolves Sweep UAF To Extend Streak To 10

Outside hitter McKenzie Moss notched a double-double and Alaska Anchorage used a huge blocking advantage Wednesday to earn its 10th consecutive victory with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 sweep of arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The Seawolves (20-7, 12-2) also got 13 kills from Jackie Matthisen, plus a match-high 15 digs from libero Stacie Meisner, as they notched the program's first 20-win season since 1996.

UAF (11-13, 5-8) got a match-high 14 kills from Megan Thigpen, but the Nanooks saw their three-match winning streak end.

The victory puts the regionally fifth-ranked Seawolves two matches ahead of Seattle Pacific (15-9, 9-3) in the GNAC standings and clinches at least second place – easily the program's best finish in the league's nine-year history.

After pulling away from a 10-10 tie to win the opening set, the Seawolves spotted the Nanooks advantages in the second and third frames.

Trailing 23-22 in the second set, UAA caught a break when UAF's Heather Lyons served into the net to tie it. UAA setter Calli Scott (match-high 33 assists) then converted on a quick attack, and Meisner served one of her three aces to take a 2-0 set lead.

Facing a 18-14 deficit in the third, Matthisen banged a kill to start an 8-1 Seawolf run. At 22-21, UAA's Cortney Lundberg and Marie Borowikow combined to block Lyons and the Seawolves would win on two more Nanook attack errors.

The Seawolves had a 14-6 edge in the blocking department, equaling the best three-set performance in the GNAC this year.

Moss finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and a career-best five total blocks, while Scott had a near-perfect hitting night with five kills on six attempts (.833).

Middle blocker Ashley Bates was huge as well, notching all seven of her career-high blocks in the final two sets. Borowikow tallied five block assists, while Lundberg – the GNAC's leading blocker – notched seven kills and four block assists.

October 31

Alaska Anchorage Wins Ninth Straight; UAF Sets Kill Percentage Record

Jackie Matthisen had 15 kills and McKenzie Moss had 12 as Alaska Anchorage extended its Great Northwest Athletic Conference win streak to nine with a 26-24, 25-19, 25-19 win against Saint Martin's Saturday at Lacey.

The Seawolves (19-7, 11-2) stayed 1 1/2 matches ahead of second-place Seattle Pacific (15-9, 9-3), which defeated Western Washington, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17, 26-24 at Bellingham.

Elsewhere in the conference, Jessica Hill had 16 kills and Alexa Sherman had 10 kills in 11 attempts as Alaska Fairbanks (11-12, 5-7) set a GNAC four-set record for hitting percentage in a 25-12, 18-25, 25-21, 25-16 win at Western Oregon.

Meanwhile, freshman Marcy Hjellum had career-highs of 16 kills and 22 digs and Kady Try also finished with 16 kills to lead Central Washington (13-10, 5-7) to an 18-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-16 victory over Northwest Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Nicholson Pavilion.

Alaska Anchorage outhit Saint Martin's (3-19, 0-13) .210 to .154 in its victory as the Seawolves concluded their conference road schedule with a 7-1 record. Calli Scott led the offense with 35 assists. She also had nine digs, two aces and three kills. Moss had three aces.

Kristin Anderson had nine kills and Teilissa Tua had seven for the Saints. Theresia Dever had 17 digs.

Seattle Pacific rallied from a 24-22 deficit in the fourth set to beat Western Washington, getting consecutive kills from Priscilla Collings, Sarah Risser, Amber Johnson and Risser again.

Risser led the Falcons with 17 kills. Also in double figures were Collings with 14 and Johnson with 11. Collings also had 19 digs. Anna Herold led SPU with 21 digs.

Western Washington(15-9, 9-5), which was all but eliminated from post-season consideration with the loss, got 17 kills from Marlayna Geary and 16 from Emily Jepsen.

Hill and Sherman were among four players in double figure kills for Alaska Fairbanks in its win. Megan Thigpen had 14 kills, while Heather Lyons had 12.

Sherman, who also had 50 assists and two blocks, nearly had a perfect night committing one error to finish with a .818 percentage.

Irene Walters had 12 kills and Laura Sakala and Samantha Ward had 10 each for Western Oregon (7-17, 4-9). Sakala also had a match-high four blocks.

UAF outhit the Wolves .407 to .214 smashing the GNAC record for the highest percentage in a four-set match by 22 points. UAF set the old record of .385 against Humboldt State in 2003.

Central Washington's win snapped a two-match losing streak for the Wildcats. The loss was a damaging one for Northwest Nazarene (14-11, 7-5), which came in ranked ninth in the West Region.

In addition to Hjellum and Try, CWU was led by Erin Norris with eight kills. Brandie Vea had a team-high 24 digs and Carlee Marble had 44 assists, a team-best three aces and 10 digs.

No NNU players finished with double figures in kills. Cammy Dranginis led the Crusaders with nine kills, while libero Haley Hevern led all players with 28 digs.

CWU outhit NNU .206 to .135 rebounding from a .212 to .054 deficit in the first set.

October 29

Seawolves Extend Lead in GNAC

Jackie Matthisen pounded 18 kills and had a career-high 19 digs against her former team to boost Alaska Anchorage to a 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 win over Western Oregon at the New P.E. Building in Monmouth Thursday.

The Seawolves (18-7, 10-2) extended their lead to one and half matches in the GNAC race with the victory as second-place Seattle Pacific (14-9, 8-3) lost to Montana State Billings, 25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 25-16 earlier in the evening.

In Thursday's only other match, Alaska Fairbanks (10-12, 4-7) kept Saint Martin's (3-18, 0-12) winless in conference with a 25-17, 25-23, 17-25, 25-18 win at Lacey. UAA completes its 2009 road campaign Saturday at Lacey before finishing up with three home matches.

The Seawolves used a balanced attack to record their eighth consecutive victory getting 14 kills and 10 digs from McKenzie Moss, 13 kills and two solo blocks from Cortney Lundberg and 48 assists from setter Calli Scott.

Libero Stacie Meisner patrolled the back row for a team-high 20 digs, while freshman Shelby Hollister tied her best effort with four aces.

Western Oregon (7-16, 4-8) was led by 18 kills from Samantha Ward, while Irene Walters had 12 kills and 17 digs for the defending league champs, who were officially eliminated from title contention with the loss. Lisa Martini was also in double figures for WOU with 10 kills, while Laura Sakala had five blocks.

After giving away a 22-20 lead in the first set and trailing 20-16 in the second, UAA got a kill from Scott to start a 5-0 run, and Moss and Lundberg combined for four kills in the final five points to even the match.

UAA trailed 17-11 midway through the third before rallying yet again. Matthisen, who played her freshman season at WOU in 2007, kick-started the comeback with three straight kills. Then, facing a 22-20 deficit, freshman Marie Borowikow ripped one of her six kills, and Moss followed with two more to highlight a 5-0, set-ending run.

The Seawolves took control at the start of the fourth set with an early 11-4 advantage and hung on despite a late rally by the Wolves.

At Billings, Devon Crotteau had 18 kills and Jen Boe had 10 to lead Montana State Billings (14-10, 7-5) to its win over Seattle Pacific as the Yellowjackets completed a season series sweep of the two conference front-runners.

The Yellowjackets, who got six blocks from Jody Lutz, beat SPU in a five-set match in Seattle on Oct. 3. Earlier this season, they also swept UAA, handing the Seawolves their only two conference losses.

Paige Hoffman had 11 kills and Jessica Bettencourt hammered 10 for the Falcons. Kylie Johnson had eight blocks and Jessica Bettencourt had six.

However, it was defense that was the difference, according to Falcon coach Chris Johnson.

“They just beat us, plain and simple. They played better defense than we did. We didn't play defense very well at all in that first game (when the Yellowjackets hit a stratospheric .538). And 12 serving errors (for the match) hurt us.”

Hoffman hit .476 for the match, and Bettencourt hit .261. SPU, however, was still outhit .203 to .178 surrendering a plus .200 percentage for just the second time in their last 16 outings.

Jessica Hill had 14 kills and Heather Lyons recorded a double-double (12 kills, 14 digs) in Alaska Fairbanks' victory at Saint Martin's.

Despite missing kill leader Megan Thigpen, who was unable to play due to illness, the Nanooks outhit the Saint's .167-.109 and also had seven blocks.

Setter Alexa Sherman had 41 assists to go along with nine digs and four kills while middle blocker Erica Gage had three blocks and four kills.

Saint Martin's was led by Kristen Anderson who had a team high 11 kills and Kirstyn Druzianich who had 10 kills. Brianna Bautista led the way defensively for the Saints with 15 digs while Teilissa Tua had nine kills and five blocks.

October 27

Saints Topple Pacific Lutheran For Third Victory

Teilissa Tua recorded 14 kills to lead the Saint Martin's to a 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19 non-conference volleyball road victory over Pacific Lutheran Tuesday night in Olson Auditorium.

Pacific Lutheran, which played the entire match with only two regulars seeing any action, is now 16-6 this season.

Saint Martin's led the entire way in the first set despite having a -.023 attack percentage because the Lutes were even worse, hitting -.175. Tua collected three of her kills on six attempts.

PLU found a rhythm in the second set with Hannah Harrison collecting five of her eight kills. The Lutes hit .171 compared to .070 for the Saints to tie it at one set apiece.

In the third set, the Saints went to Tua, who put down five kills to rally her team to the victory. She then added three more kills in the final set to finish the match.

Tua led all players with a .355 attack percentage. Kristin Anderson added nine kills for the Saints, who got 32 assists from Cymbree Decosta and 20 digs from Theresia Dever.

PLU libero Lauren Poole had 34 digs. Kelsey Pacolt, Karen Henjum and Harrison tied for the team lead with eight kills apiece.

October 24

Alaska Anchorage Beats WWU To Grab Half Match Lead in Race

Outside hitters Jackie Matthisen and McKenzie Moss each had double-doubles as Alaska Anchorage roared back from a shaky start to claim a 8-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-9 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball home victory over Western Washington at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex Saturday night.

In other conference matches, Alaska Fairbanks overcame two match points to beat Central Washington, 22-25, 25-18, 10-25, 25-18, 16-14.

Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings earned 3-0 victories.

The Crusaders (14-10, 7-4) kept Saint Martin's (2-17, 0-11) winless in conference defeating the Saints 25-16, 25-13, 25-16. MSU Billings (13-10, 6-5) beat Western Oregon 25-21, 25-23, 25-20 at Monmouth.

Setter Calli Scott had 41 assists and five kills as Alaska Anchorage (17-7, 9-2) won its seventh straight match to move one-half match ahead of idle Seattle Pacific (8-2) in the GNAC race.

Outside hitter Marlayna Geary had five of her team-high 13 kills in the first set for the Vikings (15-8, 8-4), who were swept in the season series for the first time against UAA.

Despite getting dominated in the opening set, the Seawolves were able to recover from an early 4-1 deficit in the second and turn the match upside down.

Moss and Matthisen accounted for five kills and five digs apiece on that set, while junior Cortney Lundberg – the GNAC's blocking leader – had four of her eight total blocks.

UAA continued to roll in the third when freshman outside hitter Marie Borowikow tallied half of her 10 kills, and the fourth set became a mirror image of the first, with the Seawolves out-hitting the Vikings .407 to minus .065 in the frame.

UAA won the overall hitting battle .223 to .119 and out-dug the visitors from Bellingham 60-47.

Individually, Matthisen registered 15 kills and 16 digs, while Moss had 11 kills, 12 digs and a pair of aces. Libero Stacie Meisner was solid on the back row, earning 14 digs and three assists.

In addition to Geary, Western Washington was led by Emily Jepsen with 10 kills and six blocks. Megan Amundson had seven kills.

Trailing 14-12 in the fifth set, Alaska Fairbanks got kills from Megan Thigpen and Melissa Refuerzo to tie the set at 14-14 and then Thigpen and Jessica Hill combined for back-to-back blocks as the Nanooks (9-12, 3-7) ended a five-match losing streak.

Heather Lyons led UAF with 17 kills and Thigpen had 16, while Refuerzo had 12 kills. Erica Gage participated in eight of UAF's 13 blocks. The Nanooks limited CWU to four blocks in outhitting the Wildcats .203 to .094.

Central (12-10, 4-7) was paced by Kady Try with 18 kills. Meg Ryan had 14 kills and Erin Norris had 10.

Northwest Nazarene needed just 85 minutes to dispose of Saint Martin's as Cammy Dranginis led the way with nine kills and four blocks.

The Crusaders, which outhit the Saints .273 to .023, got seven kills from Lindsay Grant and three aces from setter Eki Punimata in its win.

Saint Martin's was led by Teilissa Tua with nine kills and Kristin Anderson with eight kills. Tua also had three blocks.

Devon Crotteau had 16 kills and Jen Boe had 14 as MSU Billings (13-10, 6-5) beat Western Oregon. Jody Lutz had five blocks and Hillary Morrison had 38 assists for the Yellowjackets.

Laura Sakala led Western Oregon (7-15, 4-7) with 11 kills. Samantha Ward added nine.

October 22

Falcons, Seawolves, Vikings All Win; Lundberg Records 11 Blocks

Lundberg

Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage remained tied for first in the GNAC and Western Washington stayed just half a match back as all three posted victories Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball action.

Seattle Pacific (14-8, 8-2) won the final three sets of its match to post a 22-25, 25-23, 25-10, 25-14 road win at Western Oregon. Meanwhile, the Vikings and Seawolves kept pace in Alaska.

UAA defeated Central Washington, but saw its set winning streak end at 17 in a 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19 win. Jackie Matthisen had 19 kills, McKenzie Moss added 17 kills and Cortney Lundberg recorded the first double-digit block match of the season in the GNAC with 11 as the Seawolves (16-7, 8-2) ran their winning streak to six matches.

Meanwhile, Megan Amundson had 15 kills and Emily Jepsen was credited with 13 as Western Washington (15-7, 8-3) swept past Alaska Fairbanks, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21 at The Patty Center.

In Thursday's only other match, Devon Crotteau had 13 kills and 13 digs to lead Montana State Billings (12-10, 5-5) to a 25-18, 25-16, 25-22 sweep of Saint Martin's at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey.

Priscilla Collings had 18 kills and Sarah Risser had 17 and Seattle Pacific posted a rare "zero" error set in defeating Western Oregon (7-14, 4-6).

The Falcons, who outhit the Wolves .274 to .152, also got double-digit kills from Amber Johnson (12) in the win. Tied at one set apiece, SPU hit .425 in the third set earning 17 kills without an error in 40 swings.

Setters Cortney Weedman (33 assists) and Shelby Swanson (28 assists) combined to orchestrate the Falcon offense, while Anna Herold led the defense with 34 digs.

Irene Walters led WOU with 11 kills, while Lisa Martini and Sylvia Herrold had nine each. Danielle English was credited with 22 digs.

UAA had four players in double figure kills in its win at the Wells Fargo Complex in front of a crowd of 496.

Joining Matthisen and Moss in double-digits were Lundberg and Marie Borowikow with 11 each. Lundberg's block total was the most for a GNAC player since CWU's Rachael Schurman recorded 11 against UAA on Oct. 11, 2008.

Calli Scott had 51 assists (the most in the GNAC in a four-set match this fall), five kills, five blocks and nine digs for UAA, which finished with 15 team blocks and outhit Central Washington (12-9, 4-6) by 100 points (.251 to .151).

Erin Norris had 15 kills ands Kady Try had 14 for the Wildcats. Bri Gregory was credited with seven blocks.

Western Washington made just seven errors in outhitting Alaska Fairbanks .220 to .110 in its victory. The Vikings got 36 assists from setter Laurie Yearout and six blocks from Jepsen.

Megan Thigpen led the Nanooks (8-12, 2-7) with 16 kills. Jessica Hill had 10 kills and three aces.

Montana State Billings leveled its conference record at 5-5 with the win keeping the Saints (2-16) winless in 10 conference contests.

Jill Trabing had 26 digs and Melissa Porter contributed to seven of MSUB's blocks as the 'Jackets limited the Saints to 27 kills and a .008 hitting percentage.

Teilissa Tua had eight kills and five blocks to lead SMU. Brianna Bautista notched 12 digs.

October 20

Northwest Nazarene Loses To College of Idaho

Jessie Link and Kristin Henning each recorded 12 kills leading College of Idaho to a 21-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-22 victory over Northwest Nazarene (13-10) before a record crowd of 705 in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center Tuesday.

The victory was the seventh straight for the NAIA No. 8 ranked Lady Yotes (17-2) over their NCAA Division II rivals - dating back to 2002.

The Coyotes, who got 30 digs from Whitney Owen and three blocks each from Lauren Bourgeau and Kristin Henning, outhit the Crusaders .193 to .049.

NNU, which was playing without starters Lindsey Grant and Haley Hevern, got 10 kills from Cammy Dranginis. Eki Punimata had 19 assists, nine digs, and five aces for the Crusaders. Elisa Mooney recorded 16 digs.

October 17

Alaska Anchorage Sweeps NNU To Stay Tied For First

Jackie Matthisen and Cortney Lundberg combined for 27 of Alaska Anchorage's 44 kills as the Seawolves beat Northwest Nazarene 25-22, 27-25, 25-16 Saturday at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

It was the fifth straight victory – all sweeps – for UAA (15-7, 7-2), which remained tied for first place in the GNAC with Seattle Pacific (13-7, 7-2). The Falcons kept pace by defeating Alaska Fairbanks, 25-21, 19-25, 25-15, 25-15 at Brougham Pavilion.

In other matches, Western Washington (14-7, 7-3) swept Montana State Billings, 25-22, 25-20, 25-18 to remain just one-half match back of the co-leaders. Central Washington (12-8, 4-5) also posted a 3-0 victory defeating Saint Martin's, 25-22, 25-20, 25-18.

Setter Calli Scott had an efficient outing with 33 assists and 11 digs, helping the regionally seventh-ranked Seawolves out-hit the ninth-ranked Crusaders, .286 to .073. UAA also won the blocking battle 10-6 thanks to Lundberg, who had a career-high four solos among her six total stuffs.

Northwest Nazarene (13-9, 6-4), which fell 1 1/2 back of the co-leaders, controlled the action at the outset, taking an 18-13 lead late in the first set. But a Seawolf timeout turned the momentum around as UAA won 10 of the next 12 points, allowing the only Crusader tallies on service errors.

Lundberg, a 6-1 junior middle blocker, slammed back-to-back kills midway through that big rally before giving UAA a 24-22 lead on a solo block. An attack error by NNU ended the first set, and the Seawolves pulled away at the mid-point of the second and third frames.

Matthisen had 14 kills and nine digs, while libero Stacie Meisner lifted an impressive 18 digs in the short affair.

NNU got eight kills from Lindsay Grant and seven from Cammy Dranginis, but no other Crusader managed more than four. UAA also outdug the Crusaders – who entered the match with an NCAA-best 19.42 digs per set – by a 52-48 count.

The win was UAA's first in Nampa since 2001, the GNAC's inaugural season.

The Seawolves – picked to finish seventh in the GNAC preseason coaches' poll – have now matched their overall and league win totals from last year as well.

Sarah Risser posted her 11th double-double of the season, recording 17 kills and 16 digs, and Amber Johnson had a career-high nine blocks to lead Seattle Pacific to its victory.

Risser hit at a .238 clip for the match. Johnson, meanwhile, had nine kills to go along with her nine blocks. Setters Cortney Weedman and Shelby Swanson had 23 and 22 assists, respectively.

Herold had 25 digs, while Lindsey Wodrich had 13 digs and nine kills. Outside hitter Paige Hoffman had seven blocks.

Megan Thigpen led Alaska Fairbanks (8-11, 2-6) with 19 kills and Melissa Refuerzo had 11.

Middle blocker Emily Jepsen had a team-high 14 kills and a .609 attack percentage and Bailey Jones hit .833 with 10 kills in Western Washington's road win at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

Outside hitter Marlayna Geary had 11 kills for Western, and libero Allison Gotz had 14 digs. Montana State Billings (11-10, 4-5) was led by Devon Crotteau with 15 kills.

The Vikings led 17-10 in set one, but MSUB rallied to tie it at 20-20 before Western rebounded to score five of the last seven points.

Leading 19-16 in set two, Western scored four straight points for a 23-16 edge and got its last two points on kills by Jepsen. The Vikings took an early 10-3 lead in set three and MSUB never got closer than six.

Kady Try had 14 kills and Meg Ryan had 12 in Central Washington's win as the Wildcats moved into a three-way tie for fifth place. Brandie Vea and Deidre Scheidt each had 15 digs.

Saint Martin's (2-15, 0-9) was led by Kirstyn Druzianich with 10 kills. Brianna Bautista had 22 digs.

October 15

Seawolves Sweep Seattle Pacific To Move Into Tie For First Place

Setter Calli Scott orchestrated a near-flawless offensive display Thursday night at Brougham Pavilion leading Alaska Anchorage to a 25-17, 25-20, 25-17 road sweep of Seattle Pacific and throwing the GNAC race into a four-way scramble.

Elsewhere in the conference, Northwest Nazarene swept past Alaska Fairbanks, 25-16, 25-16, 26-24 at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa, Western Washington earned a 25-17, 21-25, 25-16, 25-16 home win against Western Oregon and Central Washington beat Montana State Billings, 19-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-19 at Billings.

That left four teams all within one-half match of each other in the GNAC standings. Alaska Anchorage (14-7) and Seattle Pacific (12-8) are tied for first with 6-2 conference records, just one-half match ahead of Western Washington (13-7) and Northwest Nazarene (13-8), both at 6-3.

With its victory, Alaska Anchorage notched its fourth straight sweep in October, powered by 31 assists from Scott and a 10-kill, 11-dig showing from outside hitter Jackie Matthisen.

UAA outhit the Falcons .375 to .139, posting the highest attack percentage in a league match this season by 48 points.

Sarah Risser had a match-high 11 kills for Seattle Pacific, but no other Falcon managed more than five kills. Anna Herold did have 10 digs for SPU, increasing her career total to exactly 1,000.

UAA, which entered the match seventh in the NCAA Division II West rankings surprised the regionally sixth-ranked Falcons by jumping to big leads in the first and second sets and not letting up.

SPU forged a pair of two-point leads midway through the third frame, but the Seawolves finished the match by taking 11 of the final 14 rallies.

At the end, the stat sheet showed almost perfect balance for UAA, which got nine kills and 11 digs from outside hitter McKenzie Moss, nine kills (.571) and six total blocks from Cortney Lundberg, and .391 hitting from Matthisen.

Freshman middle blocker Marie Borowikow nailed seven kills and equaled her best attack percentage at .500.

At Nampa, Cammy Dranginis hit at a 65 percent pace leading regionally ninth-ranked Northwest Nazarene to its win. Dranginis had 13 kills and did not commit an error in 20 attempts.

Defensively the Crusaders were paced by Haley Hevern with 20 digs. NNU also had twice as many blocks (6-3) as the Nanooks (8-10, 2-5).

"Any time you can have double-digit kills with no errors, that's a pretty good performance," Crusader head coach Jared Sliger said.

"It was nice to see Cammy post those stats and playing this well in the front, and having Haley anchor the defense, it makes for a good 1-2 punch for us," Sliger said.

NNU was also led by Lindsay Grant who added eight kills. Meanwhile Becky Flores chipped in with six kills.

Megan Thigpen led the Nanooks with 12 kills and two blocks, and Heather Lyons added nine kills.

Outside hitter Marlayna Geary had a match-high 17 kills and middle blocker Emily Jepsen added 16 kills and a match-high seven blocks in Western Washington's win on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings also got 12 kills from Megan Amundson and six blocks from Kathryn Mertens and hit for a .264 percentage, their best mark in the last five matches. WWU's 11 blocks matched its second-high output of the season.

Danielle Reese led Western Oregon (7-13, 4-5) with 12 kills, but she was also charged with 12 errors. Laura Sakala had 10 kills. The Wolves managed just a .084 percentage against the WWU defense.

Kady Try had 15 kills and Erin Norris had six blocks, including four solos in Central Washington's victory. The Wildcats (11-8, 3-5) were also led by Norris and Meg Ryan with nine kills each.

Norris also had two aces increasing her career total to 190 and establishing a new GNAC career record. The previous GNAC career record of 188 had been held by Seattle Pacific's Alyssa Given (2004-07).

CWU dominated the Yellowjackets (11-9, 4-4) at the net getting twice as many blocks (16-8). In addition to Norris, Kristel Baeckel had five blocks, including one solo, and setter Carlee Marble had four.

Marble also had 40 assists, while Brandie Vea earned 25 digs helping hold MSUB to a .126 percentage and setting a school career record in the process. She now has 1,245, eclipsing the old record of 1,222 by Katie Orgill between 1998 and 2001.

The Yellowjackets were led by Jen Boe and Devin Crotteau with 13 kills each, while Jody Lutz had 11. Melissa Porter had four blocks and Jill Trebling was credited with 23 digs.

October 14

Saint Martin's Ends Eight-Match Losing Skid

Teilissa Tua had nine kills and Kristin Anderson had eight to lead Saint Martin's to a 25-19, 25-17, 25-20 sweep of Evergreen State in a non-conference volleyball match Wednesday at Olympia.

The win snapped an eight-match losing streak for the Saints (2-14). Both of its victories this season have come at the expense of the Geoducks.

SMU held Evergreen to a minus .054 hitting percentage. Tua and Kristyn Druzianich each had three blocks and Brianna Bautista had 14 digs to lead the Saint defense.

Saint Martin's also recorded 13 service aces, equaling the fourth highest total this season in the conference. Malia Ibarra had four and Cymbree Decosta and Tua had three each.

October 13

MSUB Defeats Rocky Mountain In Four

Devon Crotteau had 16 kills and Jen Boe had 14 as Montana State Billings evened the season series with cross-city rival Rocky Mountain defeating the Bears, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21 Tuesday at Alterowitz Gym.

Earlier the season, Rocky (15-7) beat MSUB (11-8) sweeping all three sets.

“Looking at the last match between us, we were steadier this time, emotionally and physically,” MSUB head coach Steve Smith said. “We were able to keep our composure throughout the match, even though they kept coming at us. We beat a really a talented team tonight and I'm just really happy with the overall result.”

After splitting the first two sets, MSUB dominated the attack to win the final two sets before a season-best crowd of 684 fans. The Yellowjackets outhit Rocky .400 to .276 in the third set, then used a .188 to .020 advantage to close out the match in the fourth set.

For the game, MSUB outhit the Bears .175 to .103. Leading the defense for the Yellowjackets was Melissa Porter with six blocks and Jill Trabling with 18 digs.

October 10

Falcons Stay On Top With Five-Set Win

Sarah Risser equaled her career high with 22 kills and Seattle Pacific fought off a match point in the fourth set before coming back to post a 25-14, 23-25, 26-28, 27-25, 15-10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball win over Northwest Nazarene Saturday at Brougham Pavilion.

The win kept the Falcons (12-7, 6-1) one match ahead of second-place Alaska Anchorage (13-7, 5-2), which pulled a "triple" on Alaska Fairbanks defeating the Nanooks by identical 25-21 scores in a three-set sweep.

Northwest Nazarene (12-8, 5-3), which started the night one-half match back of SPU, slipped into a tie for third-place with Western Washington (12-7, 5-3) with the loss.

The Vikings stayed 1 1/2 back of SPU by defeating Saint Martin's, 25-23, 26-28, 25-23, 25-16 at Lacey. Meanwhile, Central Washington (10-8, 2-5) ended a three-match losing streak with a 25-22, 23-25, 14-25, 25-18, 19-17 home win over Western Oregon.

Seattle Pacific trailed Northwest Nazarene 24-23 in their fourth set before pulling even on a Crusader attack error. Moments later, the Falcons got kills by Amber Johnson and Risser to earn a 27-25 win and force a fifth set.

In the fifth set, SPU snapped a 4-4 tie on a kill by Risser and led the remainder of the way.

In addition to her 22 kills, Risser also had 27 digs and was one of four SPU players to record double-doubles.

The Falcons also got 14 kills and 20 digs from Priscilla Collings, a career-high 39 assists and 12 digs from Cortney Weedman and 23 assists and 13 digs from Shelby Swanson. Johnson, meanwhile, chipped in with 14 kills and a team-high five blocks.

Lindsay Grant led Northwest Nazarene with 20 kills and 30 digs. The Crusaders were also led by Cammy Dranginis with 14 kills and six blocks and Kailey Trautmann with 10 kills and 15 digs. Haley Hevern had a team-high 31 digs.

Jackie Matthisen had 16 kills and Calli Scott lifted 32 assists in Alaska Anchorage's win, which sets up a first-place showdown when the Seawolves play at Brougham Pavilion next Thursday.

UAA also got nine kills from middle blocker Cortney Lundberg and eight kills from outside hitter McKenzie Moss to recover from four-point deficits midway through the first and third sets.

UAF (8-9, 2-4) was led by 14 kills from middle blocker Jessica Hill, plus 11 kills and 10 digs from outside hitter Megan Thigpen.

Libero Stacie Meisner had a team-high 10 digs and middle blocker Ashley Bates had four blocks for UAA, which snapped a five-match losing streak to the Nanooks including three at Fairbanks.

Outside hitters Marlayna Geary and Megan Amundson each had double-doubles to lead Western Washington to its victory at Saint Martin's.

Geary had 16 kills and 11 digs and Amundson had 12 kills and 12 digs. The Vikings also got a match-high 20 digs from Allison Gotz and three blocks each from Bailey Jones and Emily Jepsen.

Kirstyn Druzianich had 16 kills for Saint Martin's, tying Geary for match-high honors. The Saints (1-14, 0-8) were also led by Teilissa Tua and Sarah Gann with 15 and 10 kills, respectively.

Western Washington trailed most of the first set and was behind 22-21 before two Saint Martin 's errors put the Vikings in front and two kills by Jepsen finished it.

In the second frame, Western Washington led 22-20 but could not put it away and after five ties and two lead changes the Saints evened the match with a kill by Druzianich and an attack error by the Vikings.

The third set also was tight. Geary snapped a 23-23 tie with two kills to put Western in front two sets to one. The Vikings got out to an early 10-4 lead in closing out the match in the fourth set and extending their win streak against the Saints to 22.

Bri Gregory and Kady Try had a block to earn Central Washington match point in its home victory against Western Oregon, which earlier had fought off match points at 14-13, 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16.

Try finished with 23 1/2 points, recording 19 kills, three service aces and three assisted blocks. Marcy Hjellum had 12 kills and Erin Norris had 10 kills and four blocks.

Norris also had two aces to tie the GNAC career record of 188. Gregory's block on the final point was her sixth of the match.

Western Oregon was led by Danielle Reese with 19 kills and Laura Sakala and Samantha Ward with 13 each. Ward also had seven blocks.

Danielle English led the Wolf defense with 22 digs. Sakala and Sylvia Herrold each had four blocks.

October 8

Seattle Pacific Beats CWU; Northwest Nazarene Wins in Five

Trailing 24-22 in the fourth set, Seattle Pacific got a kill from Sarah Risser and three consecutive blocks from Jessica Bettencourt and Angie Pricco to pull out a 26-24 win and complete a 3-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball victory over Central Washington Thursday at Nicholson Pavilion.

Risser had 22 kills and Bettencourt had six blocks to lead the first-place Falcons (11-7, 5-1) to a 25-12, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24 road victory over the Wildcats (9-8, 1-5). CWU has lost six of seven after an 8-2 start.

Elsewhere in the GNAC, Northwest Nazarene (11-7, 5-2) won the second, fourth and fifth sets by two points in pulling out a 20-25, 26-24, 23-25, 26-24, 15-13 win at Western Washington and moving into sole possession of second place, one-half match back of SPU.

Meanwhile, Western Oregon (7-11, 4-3) defeated Saint Martin's, 26-24, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22 at Monmouth.

WOU's victory moved the Wolves into a three-way tie for fourth-place in the GNAC along with Western Washington (11-7, 4-3) and idle Montana State Billings. All three are 1 1/2 matches behind SPU. Alaska Anchorage (4-2), which was also idle, is in third one match behind the Falcons.

Risser (14 digs) and setter Cortney Weedman (25 assists, 14 digs) both had double-doubles in SPU's victory. The Falcons, who outhit CWU .222 to .123, also got 12 kills from Priscilla Collings and 32 digs from Anna Herold in the victory.

Central was led by Erin Norris with 18 kills, while Kady Try had 13 kills. Try, however, was the victim of all three blocks by Bettencourt and Pricco to end the match as SPU, which held an opponent below .200 for the 11th straight match, had twice as many rejections (10-5) as the Wildcats.

Cammy Dranginis and Lindsay Grant each had 14 kills and Dranginis also added five blocks in Northwest Nazarene's victory as the Crusaders beat the Vikings for the second year in a row in Bellingham where WWU is now 86-10 over the past 10 seasons. Three of the 10 losses, however, have been this season.

Marlayna Geary led Western Washington with a career-high 29 kills, while middle blocker Emily Jepsen , who leads GNAC in blocks, had 12 kills, 14 digs and six blocks. WWU also got 11 kills from Kathyrn Mertens.

Western Washington broke away from a 17-17 tie to win the first set and appeared poised to take a commanding two-set advantage when it held a 24-21 lead in the second frame, but the Crusaders rallied with five straight points to even the match.

WWU trailed on only two points in winning the third set. In the fourth, the score was tied at 24-24 before kills by the Crusaders' Amy Higginson and Alaina Barber sent the match to a fifth set.

The Vikings had a 10-9 lead in the final frame, but Northwest Nazarene took control by scoring four of the next five points and eventually closed out the match on a kill by Grant.

The Crusaders, who entered the match leading NCAA Division II in digs per set at 18.78, had 122 for the match, with Haley Hevern getting a career-high 36 and Grant adding 23.

Libero Allison Gotz had 31 digs for Western Washington, which also had 122 team digs. Jordyn Bailey added 26.

Irene Walters had 12 kills and Lisa Martini and Samantha Ward each had 11 kills to lead Western Oregon to its win. Teilissa Tua had 19 kills and Sarah Gann had 11 for the Saints (1-13, 0-7).

Martini hit for a .529 percentage (11-2-17) and also had a match-high five blocks. Cally Young also contributed defensively with 17 digs.

After dividing the first two sets, Western Oregon hit .435 in winning the third set. SMU's second-set victory was its second in seven conference matches.

October 3

MSUB Surprises Falcons To Tighten Race; Five Teams Have Four Wins

There is a logjam at the top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball standings.

Montana State Billings fought off six match points in the fourth set, then came back to pull out a five-set victory against Seattle Pacific Saturday night at Brougham Pavilion handing the Falcons, the last unbeaten team in the conference, their first loss.

SPU (10-7, 4-1) is still on top of the GNAC standings, but it is now one of five different teams with four conference wins and are only half a match ahead of Western Washington (11-6, 4-2), idle Northwest Nazarene (11-7, 4-2) and Alaska Anchorage (12-7, 4-2).

The surprising Yellowjackets (10-8, 4-3), who were picked to finish eighth in the GNAC Coaches pre-season poll, pulled to within one match of the Falcons with a 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 31-29, 15-12 victory.

Elsewhere in the GNAC, Alaska Anchorage, Western Washington and Western Oregon (6-11, 3-3) all earned victories.

Cortney Lundberg converted on 17 of 19 kill opportunities producing the third-high percentage (.895) in GNAC history as Alaska Anchorage swept Saint Martin's 25-17, 25-21, 25-16 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

Laura Sakala had 19 kills to lead Western Oregon to a 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 15-8 road win against Alaska Fairbanks (8-8, 2-3) at the Patty Center. Meanwhile, Western Washington swept arch-rival Central Washington 25-16, 31-29, 25-16 at Sam Carver Gym in Bellingham.

Devon Crotteau had a double-double of 24 kills and 22 digs as Montana State Billings prevailed at Brougham Pavilion snapping SPU's five-match win streak.

“Crotteau is a great hitter – we knew it was coming, but we still couldn't stop her,” SPU coach Chris Johnson said. “We had more kills (72-64), more attacks (216-207), more blocks (11 1/2 - 10), more digs (99-96) and more aces (7-2). But we had critical errors at critical times.”

The Falcons, who were outhit .198 to .176, fell short in spite of three double-double performances. Outside hitter Sarah Risser had a career-high 31 digs to go along with 19 kills.

Outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich had 16 kills and 18 digs and freshman setter Shelby Swanson had her first career double-double, finishing with 29 assists and 14 digs. Outside hitter Amber Johnson added a career-high 14 kills for SPU.

In addition to Crotteau, MSU Billings was led by Jen Boe and Jody Lutz with 12 kills each. Melissa Porter had five blocks and Jill Trabling had 23 digs to lead the defense.

Lundberg's hitting efficiency, which included a seven-for-seven effort in the third set, led Alaska Anchorage to a .313 team percentage in its victory. The Seawolves also got 12 kills from Jackie Matthisen.

Stacie Meisner had 21 digs and Ashley Bates had four blocks for UAA, Setter Calli Scott was credited with 37 assists.

Teilissa Tua and Kirstyn Druzianich each had eight kills for Saint Martin's (1-12, 0-6) which finished with a .081 percentage.

Western Oregon (6-11, 3-3) got 14 kills from Danielle Reese and 12 from Lisa Martini in defeating UAF and leveling its conference record. Martini also led WOU with four aces and three blocks.

Setter Amy Herron had 37 assists and Danielle English had 18 digs for the Wolves, who won despite being outhit .243 to .231.

Megan Thigpen had 20 kills and Heather Lyons had 17 for the Nanooks (7-9, 2-3). Sydney VanMunster had four blocks and setter Alexa Sherman was credited with 47 assists.

Marlayna Geary had 19 kills and Western Washington recorded 11 blocks in holding Central Washington to a .080 percentage in its victory.

Geary hit .400 (19-5-35) leading her team to a .214 percentage, including .367 (14-3-30) in the third set. In addition to Geary, WWU was led by Emily Jepsen with 10 kills and six blocks.

Kathryn Mertens and Bailey Jones each had four blocks and Allison Gotz had 22 digs to key Western Washington's defense.

Central Washington (9-7, 1-4) managed just 31 kills, nine by Erin Norris. No one else had more than four for the Wildcats. Brandie Vea had 21 digs and Kristel Baeckel was credited with four blocks.

October 1

Career Night For Grant in Northwest Nazarene Victory

Lindsay Grant exploded for a career-high 29 kills to lead Northwest Nazarene to a 25-18, 24-26, 27-29, 25-17, 15-9 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball home win over Montana State Billings Thursday at the Johnson Sports Center.

Grant, who also had 21 digs, hit .333 in blowing past her previous career-high of 21 kills. She also increased her career total to 1,012 kills, becoming the 24th player in the nine-year history of the conference to record 1,000 or more.

Elsewhere in the GNAC Alaska Anchorage (11-7, 3-2) and Alaska Fairbanks (7-8. 2-2) earned sweeps. The Seawolves defeated Western Oregon, 25-20, 25-21. 25-20, while UAF swept past Saint Martin's, 25-18, 25-16, 25-14.

Northwest Nazarene (11-7, 4-2) lost the second and third set, but then rallied back to win the match and pull within one match of first-place Seattle Pacific (4-0).

"I'm extremely proud of Lindsay (Grant) for picking the team up and leading us to tonight's victory," NNU head coach Jared Sliger said. "It speaks of her quality when everyone in the gym knows she's getting the ball and she is still successful."

Cammy Dranginis was also impressive finishing with 21 kills - two away from her career high - and eight blocks, reaching two career milestones in the process.

Dranginis had 26 1/2 points moving into the GNAC All-Time Top 10 career point list. She finished the evening in ninth place with 1,438 points. She also set a GNAC record for blocking assists, increasing her career total to 338 while extending her GNAC career record for total blocks to 436.

Defensively NNU was led by Haley Hevern with 28 digs, while Carly Dranginis had five blocks.

MSUB was paced by Devon Crotteau with 16 kills and Melissa Porter with 13. Porter also had a team-high seven blocks.

After winning the opening set, the Crusaders looked to be on their way to a second set win. However, MSUB scored seven straight points on two Crotteau kills, four Crusader hitting errors, and an ace by Hillary Morrison to pull within two points at 22-20.

After pulling into a 24-24 tie, MSUB got back-to-back kills by Jen Boe and Hannah Johnson to even the match at one set each.

The Yellowjackets (9-8, 3-3) claimed the third set 29-27, this time on back-to-back kills by Boe and Morrison, but the Crusaders bounced back to win the fourth set by eight points after getting out to a 10-3 lead.

It was then all NNU in the fifth set as the Crusaders, who outhit MSUB .208 to .155, scored the first five points of the set before pulling away to a 15-9 victory. Grant had four kills in the set, including two-in-a-row to force set-point.

At Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage remained one of four GNAC teams two back of SPU in the loss column as Jackie Matthisen accounted for 40 percent of UAA's points (23 of 58) getting 20 kills and three aces.

Matthisen's kill total was two more than any GNAC player has registered in a three-set match this year. She had seven each in the first two set before earning six in the third set.

UAA also got eight kills each from Cortney Lundberg and McKenzie Moss. Lundberg also had four blocks as UAA outhit the Wolves .299 to .190. Stacie Meisner had 10 digs and Calli Scott had 35 assists to contribute to the win.

Danielle Reese and Sylvia Herrold led Western Oregon (5-11, 2-3) with eight kills each, while Laura Sakala had six blocks.

Megan Thigpen had 11 kills and 10 digs and Alaska Fairbanks tripled Saint Martin's hitting percentage (.327 to .103) in handing the Saints their 11th loss in 12 matches. SMU is 0-5 in the GNAC.

UAF had 44 kills and was charged with just nine errors in the match. Malia Ibarra and Kirstyn Druzianich each had eight kills for the Saints.

September 30

Seattle Pacific Opens Up 1 1/2 Match Lead in GNAC Volleyball Chase

Sarah Risser had 17 kills and Lindsay Wodrich chipped in with 13 as Seattle Pacific swept Western Washington, 25-20, 25-22, 25-13 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match Wednesday at Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons (10-6, 4-0), who also got a double-double from setter Cortney Weedman (22 assists, 11 digs), remained unbeaten in the GNAC with the victory opening up a 1 1/2 match lead over a trio of teams, including the Vikings (10-6, 3-2).

Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings are tied for second with WWU, all at 3-2. Those three are among six GNAC schools with two losses.

Seattle Pacific doubled Western Washington's hitting percentage (.286 to .142) in earning the win. Jessica Bettencourt had the top percentage (.636) converting on seven of 11 attempts. Risser hit for a .286 percentage (17-5-42).

Seattle Pacific was led defensively by Anna Herold with 31 digs. Amber Johnson, who had six kills and a .308 percentage, participated in both of SPU's blocks.

Marlayna Geary had 11 kills to lead Western Washington. Allison Gotz had 17 digs. WWU managed just one serving ace in the match. The Falcons had five.

SPU jumped to a 12-5 and maintained at least a three-point lead the remainder of the away in winning the first set.

In the second set, Western Washington led 10-5 lead, but the Falcons rallied to tie it at 20-20, then got kills from Wodrich and Risser to go ahead 22-20. Leading 23-22, SPU earned its final two points on Western Washington attack errors.

Seattle Pacific then scored 16 of the first 20 points in cruising to a win in the third set and posting its first victory over WWU since 2006, snapping a four-match losing streak to the Vikings.

September 29

Crusaders Lose To College of Idaho

Ciciley Fox had 19 kills and Jessie Link had 17 - both career highs - as College of Idaho improved to 11-1 with a 25-19, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23 victory over Northwest Nazarene Tuesday at Nampa.

The Coyotes won the final two sets of the match by 25-23 scores in handing NNU's its seventh loss in 17 matches. It was the 11th straight win for C of I.

Cammy Dranginis and Lindsay Grant had 17 kills each and Grant had a team-high 23 digs to pace NNU.

Dranginis also had five blocks, including four assisted blocks increasing her career total in the latter category to 331, one short of the GNAC record.

Also in double figure kills was Becky Flores with 13, including a kill which gave NNU a 22-21 lead in the fourth set.

Fox, however, added kills on three of the final four points of the match, giving College of Idaho, which outhit NNU .279 to .205, the victory.

September 28

Crotteau, Porter Key Montana State Billings Win

Devon Crotteau had 19 kills and a team-high 15 digs and Melissa Porter had 10 kills and a momentum changing block in leading Montana State Billings to a 25-23, 19-25, 26-24 25-15 win over Alaska Anchorage Monday at Alterowitz Gym.

The win moved the Yellowjackets (9-7, 3-2) into a tie for third place in the GNAC with Northwest Nazarene and dropped UAA (10-7, 2-2) into a tie for fifth with Western Oregon.

MSUB also got 13 kills and 14 digs from Jen Boe and 50 assists from Hilary Morrison in the victory, its second in two matches with UAA.

McKenzie Moss and Jackie Matthisen each had 14 kills for Alaska Anchorage, which was playing its fourth road match in the past five days. Cortney Lundberg had a match-high six blocks and Marie Borowikow had five.

MSUB, which won the first and third sets by two points, outhit UAA .219 to .180 in earning the victory. The 'Jackets (six aces, seven UAA serving errors) also had a 13-10 edge in serving points.

After splitting the first two sets, MSUB trailed 17-11 in the third set, but used a block by Porter to spark a rally. Another block by Morrison and Hannah Johnson gave MSUB a 21-20 lead. Johnson and Porter both finished the match with four blocks.

MSUB later broke out of a 24-24 tie on a kill by Porter before getting the set point on a UAA ball-control error.

MSUB then built a 10-4 lead in the fourth set and outhit the Seawolves .333 to .026 on the way to a 25-15 win to secure the match victory.

September 27

Alaska Anchorage Loses To Rocky Mountain

McKenzie Moss posted her third straight double-double, but Alaska Anchorage saw its brief win streak end Sunday night as Rocky Mountain defeated the Seawolves 28-26, 12-25, 25-16, 25-17 in a non-conference match at the Fortin Center in Billings, Mont.

The Seawolves were led by 17 kills from outside hitter Jackie Matthisen, 23 digs from libero Stacie Meisner and 46 assists from setter Calli Scott, but managed just a .125 attack percentage against the NAIA squad.

Moss finished with 12 kills and 13 digs in the loss, which counts on UAA's overall record but does not affect the Division II playoff race.

The Battlin' Bears (13-6) were paced by double-double efforts from Sara Brunner with 12 kills and 16 digs, and Jessica Overstreet with 10 kills, 10 digs and seven of RMC's 17 blocks. Meanwhile, the Seawolves managed just nine blocks and lost despite out-digging the home team 71-62.

RMC's win was its second straight over a GNAC team. The Battlin' Bears swept crosstown rival Montana State Billings Tuesday.

September 26

Seawolves Overcome Late Deficit in 3-2 Win

Jackie Matthisen had 22 kills and five blocks and scored the winning point as Alaska Anchorage rallied from a 13-9 deficit in the fifth set to defeat Central Washington 17-25, 25-23, 27-25, 19-25, 15-13 Saturday at Nicholson Pavilion.

The win improved UAA (10-5, 2-1) to 2-0 on its four-match road trip which continues Sunday and Monday with matches in Billings against Rocky Mountain and MSU Billings.

It also kept the Seawolves just one match back of idle Seattle Pacific (3-0) and one-half behind Western Washington (10-5, 3-1) which swept Alaska Fairbanks 25-18, 25-22, 25-21 as Marlayna Geary and Emily Jepsen led the way with 10 kills each.

Elsewhere in the GNAC Saturday, Western Oregon and Montana State Billings recorded victories.

Laura Sakala had 16 kills and Sylvia Herrold added 15 to lead the Wolves (5-10, 2-2) past Northwest Nazarene, 25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19

Meanwhile, Devon Crotteau had 10 kills and Melissa Porter had nine in leading Montana State Billings (8-7, 2-2) to a 25-16, 25-17, 25-19 sweep of Saint Martin's at Alterowitz Gym.

In addition to Matthisen's 22 kills, Alaska Anchorage was led by McKenzie Moss with 17 kills and 21 digs and Cortney Lundberg, who had 12 kills and seven blocks, in its come-from-behind win.

UAA also got strong contributions from setter Calli Scott (54 assists, 17 digs) and libero Stacie Meisner (34 digs).

Still, the Seawolves had to pull it out with a dramatic finish. Wiith no timeouts left, UAA got a kill from middle blocker Ashley Bates and one by Matthisen cutting a 13-9 CWU lead to two points.

Then after a CWU timeout, Matthisen banged kills on the two ensuing points to tie it, and CWU's Kady Try hit into the block of Ashley Bates (her fifth) and freshman Marie Borowikow to give UAA the lead.

Another Wildcat timeout did nothing to stop the momentum as Matthisen's match-winning kill went off the block and barely landed out of bounds on UAA's side of the court.

Try led the Wildcats with 18 kills, while Megan Ryan had 16 and Erin Norris contributed 12 kills, four aces and four blocks. She now has 185 career aces, just three short of the GNAC career record of 188.

Western Washington, rebounding from a rare home loss to UAA Thursday (the Vikings are now 128-16 in GNAC counters at Sam Carver Gym), outhit Alaska Fairbanks .278 to .148 in its sweep.

In addition to Geary and Jepsen, Kathryn Mertens and Bailey Jones led WWU. Mertens had nine kills and Jones had five blocks as the Vikings dominated UAF 10-2 at the net.

Megan Thigpen had 11 kills and Melissa Refuerzo had 10 for the Nanooks (7-7, 1-2). Allison Oddy led the UAF defense with 16 digs.

Sakala and Herrold combined for 31 of Western Oregon's 54 kills as the Wolves knocked Northwest Nazarene (10-6, 3-2) out of second place in the GNAC.

The Wolves outhit NNU .194 to .160 to overcome 14 service errors and a two block (6-4) disadvantage in the contest.

The Crusaders had three players in double figure kills including Lindsay Grant with 11 and Cammy Dranginis and Becky Flores with 10 each. Dranginis also had five blocks to increase her GNAC-record career total to 423.

Montana State Billings tripled Saint Martin's hitting percentage (.198 to .062) in its victory. TheYellowjackets got six aces from Morgan Moss as they outscored Saint Martin's 15 points (10 aces, 5 SMU errors) to five points from the service line.

Kirstyn Druzianich had a match-high 13 kills for SMU (1-10), which remained winless in four conference tilts.

September 24

Seawolves Stun Western Washington In Five

Jackie Matthisen slammed a career-high 28 kills and Calli Scott had 56 assists as Alaska Anchorage (9-5, 1-1) snapped a 17-match losing streak against Western Washington with a 25-20, 17-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-11 road victory in Bellingham Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific (9-6, 3-0) remained the lone remaining unbeaten team in the GNAC rallying from a two-set deficit to defeat Western Oregon, 17-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-10.

Central Washington (9-5, 1-2) handed Alaska Fairbanks its first conference loss and improved to 5-0 at home with a 25-16, 25-19, 22-25, 23-25, 15-10 win at Nicholson Pavilion.

Northwest Nazarene (10-5), one of four conference teams with just one loss, improved to 3-1 in the GNAC with a 25-9, 25-16, 25-23 win at Saint Martin's.

Middle blocker Cortney Lundberg and outside hitter McKenzie Moss joined Matthisen in double figures with 15 kills each in UAA's victory as the Seawolves earned their first win over the Vikings since the GNAC was founded in 2001.

Western Washington (9-5, 2-1) was led by outside hitter Marlayna Geary with 15 kills and 14 digs, while middle blocker Megan Amundson had 14 kills on .324 hitting.

After winning the first and third sets by five and eight points and losing the second and fourth by eight and four points, UAA got off to a 3-0 lead in the fifth set thanks to three straight kills by Lundberg, but Western Washington called timeout and responded with the next six points.

The Seawolves took over for good at that point, however, running off six consecutive points of their own, including a pair of kills each by Moss and Lundberg.

The Vikings pulled within 11-9 on a Lundberg attack error, but that was as close as they would get. Matthisen finished strong with another kill, followed by Stacie Meisner’s third and final ace. A Matthisen spike accounted for a 14-10 lead, and the former East Anchorage High School star delivered again on match point moments later.

With her 28 kills, Matthisen topped her previous personal- and team-best total of 25, while her 18 digs were half a dozen more than her old career-high. Moss also recorded a double-double – her team-best fifth of the season – with 15 kills and 15 digs.

Meanwhile, Scott had three aces, nine digs and five block assists in addition to her 56 assists. Meisner tied for match-high honors with 18 digs from the libero position.

The victory was not only the Seawolves’ first over the Vikings since 1998, it also marked their first win in Bellingham in 11 tries.

Lindsey Wodrich had 17 kills and 17 digs, and Sarah Risser contributed 13 kills and 10 digs in Seattle Pacific's come-from-behind win at Brougham Pavilion as the Falcons won their seventh match in their last eight starts.

Western Oregon (4-10, 1-2) was led by Danielle Reese with 19 kills and Sylvia Herrold with 12.

SPU outhit the defending GNAC champions .184 to .135 in matching its best conference start since 2006. The Falcons outblocked WOU 10-5 as Amber Johnson contributed to eight of them. Wodrich and Paige Hoffman had four each.

In addition to the blocks, SPU was led defensively by Anna Herold with 26 digs. Cortney Weedman (30 assists) and Shelby Swanson (18) combined for 48 of SPU's 63 assists.

After losing the first two sets by eight and six points, respectively, the Falcons took a five-point win in the third set and then hit .324 and .407 to win the final two sets.

Risser had kills for the final two points of the match as SPU never trailed in the final set after jumping to an early 9-4 lead.

Kady Try led four players in double figures with 18 kills in Central Washington's win. Erin Norris had a team-high 20 points, contributing 13 kills, six service aces and a pair of assisted blocks.

CWU was also led by Meg Ryan and Kristel Baeckel with 10 kills. Try had a team-high 21 digs and Jalisa Bullock had four blocks to lead the Wildcats defensively.

Megan Thigpen had 27 kills and 30 digs to pace Alaska Fairbanks (7-6, 1-1). The Nanooks were also led by Heather Lyons with 17 kills. Alexa Sherman had 55 assists and Allison Oddy was credited with a match-high 34 digs.

Central rallied from early deficits in each of the first two sets to take a 2-0 match lead, taking advantage of eight UAF hitting errors in the first set and seven more in the second set.

The Wildcats appeared to be on the way to a three-set sweep after taking early leads in the third set, but Alaska Fairbanks broke a 9-9 tie -- the seventh deadlock of the set -- with a 9-2 run that put the Nanooks in front by an 18-11 score on the way to a three-point win.

In the fourth set the Wildcats were two points away from winning the match after an ace by Baeckel, but three straight Nanook kills forced a decisive fifth set.

In the final frame, Central stormed out to leads of 3-0, 5-1, 8-2, and 11-4 en route to its match victory. Norris sparked the Wildcats with two early kills and consecutive service aces. Later her 13th kill set up match point and she had an assist on the match-clinching block.

Northwest Nazarene outhit Saint Martin's .275 to .099 in sweeping the Saints (1-9, 0-3). Lindsay Grant had a match-high 11 kills and Eki Punimata had 21 assists, seven aces and 10 digs. Alaina Barber chipped in with nine kills.

“Eki started us off with an incredible serving run and it seemed like we were playing downhill the rest of the way,” NNU head coach Jared Sliger said.

Kristin Anderson had seven kills and Malia Ibarra had 14 digs for the Saints, who trailed 11-1 early in the first set. Teilissa Tua had three solo blocks.

September 22

Montana State Billings Swept By Rocky Mountain

In a match that took just 61 minutes to complete, Montana State Billings was swept by Rocky Mountain, 25-15, 25-18, 25-13. The match was played on the RMC campus in Billings.

“We just played un-inspired and got beat by a team that was more motivated than us tonight,” said MSUB head coach Steve Smith. “They were prepared for the match and just dominated us from the start. I think we had some decent serves, but we were unable to place the ball and do the right things.”

The Yellowjackets (7-7) were out hit during the match .380 to .044. The Battlin' Bears had seven blocks while MSUB collected five. Devon Crotteau led MSUB with 12 kills while Jen Boe added seven.

Rocky was led by Sara Brunner who collected 14 kills and hit for a .370 hitting average.

September 19

Dranginis Powers NNU Past Central; Vikings Snap WWU 19-Match Home Streak

Cammy Dranginis scored 22 points to lead Northwest Nazarene to a 25-20, 24-26, 26-24, 25-15 Great Northwest Athletic Conference win over Central Washington Saturday at the Johnson Sports Center.

Elsewhere Western Washington (9-4, 2-0) defeated defending conference champion Western Oregon, 25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22, snapping the Wolves 19-match home win streak and Seattle Pacific (8-6, 2-0) bettered Saint Martin's, 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-11.

Dranginis had 18 kills and hit for a .333 percentage and also had six blocks, including two solos, to lead four players in double figure kills in Northwest Nazarene's victory.

NNU (9-5, 2-1) also got 14 kills from Lindsay Grant, 12 from Becky Flores who hit for a GNAC season-best .706 percentage (12-0-17) and 11 from Alaina Barber. Barber also had four blocks.

Flores' percentage equals the 14th best single-match total in GNAC history (minimum 12 kills) and is the third best for a four-set match.

NNU outhit CWU .234 to .182 as Haley Hevern was outstanding on defense with a career-high 32 digs.

"Haley was on fire," NNU coach Jared Sliger said. "She was like having a fourth blocker in the front row tonight."

Sliger also gave credit to NNU's high hitting percentage to setters Eki Punimata (29 assists) and Amy Higginson (27 assists). "I thought Eki and Amy did an outstanding job getting our hitters the ball where they could be successful," Sliger said.

Central Washington (8-5, 0-2) was led by Erin Norris who had a career-high 21 kills. Kady Try had 12 kills and Meg Ryan had 10. Brandie Vea earned 23 digs.

Emily Jepsen had 15 kills and Marlayna Geary had 14 as Western Washington outhit Western Oregon .280 to .159, forcing the Wolves into 27 attack errors. Jepsen finished with 19 1/2 points adding one point from the service line and 3 1/2 on defense (two solo blocks, three assists).

Defensively, the Vikings were also led by Geary with 16 digs and Bailey Jones with four blocks.

Samantha Ward had 16 kills and Danielle Reese had 11 for the Wolves (4-9, 1-1). Laura Sakala and Sylvia Herrold had eight kills each. Herrold also had five blocks and 14 digs. Cally Young had 24 digs.

"Those 27 errors defined the whole match," WOU coach Brad Saindon continued. "We had did not pass or set well and there was no rhythm. All those things are my responsibility so this match falls on me."

Priscilla Collings led Seattle Pacific with 17 kills and Lindsey Wodrich had 11 as the Falcons and Western Washington completed the opening weekend as the only teams at 2-0.

Wodrich also had three aces and three blocks. Angie Pricco had six blocks and Amber Johnson had five for the Falcons. Anna Herold was credited with 20 digs.

Katy Ferguson had 10 kills for the Saints (1-8, 0-2), who were outhit .224 to .042. Three players - Kristin Anderson, Malia Ibarra and Kirstyn Druzianich - each had six kills for SMU.

September 18

Crotteau Leads MSUB To Sweep of Alaska Anchorage

Devon Crotteau had 17 kills, nine digs and three service aces to lead Montana State Billings to a 27-25, 25-18, 25-18 Great Northwest Athletic Conference sweep of Alaska Anchorage at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage Friday night.

MSUB (7-6, 1-2) earned its first conference victory in three matches. The contest was the conference opener for the Seawolves (8-5).

In addition to Crotteau, MSUB also got contributions from Jen Boe (6 kills, 10 digs, 2 blocks) and Melissa Porter (5 blocks). Jill Trabing had 13 digs and Jody Lutz had three aces as MSUB outscored UAA 18-9 from the service line getting nine aces and nine UAA errors.

The Seawolves, who played part of the match without setter Calli Scott, were paced by Jackie Matthisen with 14 kills and McKenzie Moss with 12. Matthisen hit .444 (14-0-27) and Moss hit .303 (12-2-33).

“We had a real solid performance and the main thing is we were the aggressors all the way,” MSUB head coach Steve Smith said.

With UAA leading 24-22 in the first set, Crotteau delivered two straight kills and, after a timeout, gave MSUB a 26-25 lead with another spike. Lutz and Boe then combined to block UAA's Cortney Lundberg on set point, giving the Yellowjackets the early edge.

Tied 16-16 in the second set, UAA head coach Chris Green whistled for a timeout. It was at that point that Scott – the GNAC's assists-per-game leader (9.91) – left the match due to a flu virus she has been fighting all week.

Without their floor general, the Seawolves allowed the last seven points of the second set, and were never able to get on track in the third.

Scott did manage to maintain her average with 20 assists, while Lundberg tied her career-high with three solo blocks. Libero Stacie Meisner was moved to setter in the third set and had seven assists. Meisner also had a match-high 14 digs.

September 17

Collings Leads SPU Past NNU

Priscilla Collings hammered a career-high 22 kills, and Lindsey Wodrich tied her career high with 19 kills as Seattle Pacific rallied from a 2-1 deficit to pull out a 20-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-23, 15-6 victory against Northwest Nazarene in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball opener Thursday night before 710 fans at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

In other conference openers, Western Washington (8-4) cruised past Saint Martin's, 25-11, 25-20, 25-19, defending GNAC champion Western Oregon (4-8) defeated Central Washington, 25-12, 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, and Alaska Fairbanks (7-5) rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Montana State Billings, 24-26, 19-25, 29-27, 25-20, 16-14.

SPU's win was its first five-set victory in four tries this season. The Falcons improved to 7-6 with the win dropping the Crusaders to 8-5.

Senior Cortney Weedman had a double-double recording a career high 35 assists and had 14 digs. Wodrich (18 digs) and Collings (12 digs) also had double-doubles.

Libero Anna Herold led SPU with 28 digs and Amber Johnson hit a whopping .591, with 13 kills and no errors on 22 total attacks.

Lindsay Grant and Cammy Dranginis paced NNU with 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Grant also had 21 digs, while Dranginis, who set a GNAC career record for blocks last weekend, added to her total (now at 411) with eight.

Haley Hevern also had 21 digs and Carly Dranginis had six blocks for NNU.

At Bellingham, Marlayna Geary had 15 kills and Jordyn Bailey had 11 as Western Washington cruised past Saint Martin's (1-7) recording its 21st straight victory over the Saints dating back to the 1998 season.

The Vikings tripled SMU's hitting percentage (.185 to .062) even though they were outblocked 8-4 by the Saints. Katy Ferguson contributed to five of Saint Martin's eight blocks.

Western Washington had a huge advantage from the service line getting 14 aces, including four by Kathryn Mertens. The Saint had only two. Allison Gotz led the Vikings defensively with 27 digs.

Danielle Reese had 16 kills and Laura Sakala had 11 in Western Oregon's win over Central Washington.

Sakala did not commit and error hitting for a .524 percentage as the Wolves outhit the Wildcats .370 to .265. Lisa Martini and Syliva Herrold also had outstanding percentages (.533 and .412) in contributing eight kills each

Central (8-4) was led by Kady Try with 15 kills. Meg Ryan amd Erin Norris each had 12 kills, while Norris and Kristel Baeckel each had four blocks.

Alaska Fairbanks got a block from Alexa Sherman and Erica Gage for the final point in its victory. Trailing 14-13 in the fifth set, the Nanooks got a kill from Sydney Van Munster, an MSUB error and the block to complete the comeback after losing the first two sets.

Jessica Hill led four players in double figures with 18 kills. Megan Thigpen and Van Munster each had 16 kills and Heather Lyons had 15.

Devon Crotteau recorded the first 30-kill match of the season in the GNAC, finishing with 31 to lead MSUB (6-6). Jen Boe had 17 kills and Jody Lutz had eight blocks for the Yellowjackets, who fell to 0-2 in the conference despite outblocking the Nanooks 15-6.

September 12

Grant, Barber Lead NNU To Two Victories

Lindsay Grant and Alaina Barber combined for 40 kills in leading Northwest Nazarene to a pair of wins Saturday in the MSUB Invitational volleyball tournament at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

Both Grant and Barber were named to the all-tournament team as the Crusaders went 4-0 to improve to 8-4 on the season. Devon Crotteau of MSU Billings, who led the Yellowjackets to a pair of wins Saturday, was also selected to the all-tournament team.

NNU swept Northern State, 25-19, 25-19, 25-18 and Dickinson State, 25-25, 25-7, 25-17, while MSUB (6-5) defeated Mary, 25-21, 25-23, 25-14, and Dickinson State, 25-15, 25-14, 26-24.

Grant had 16 kills in NNU's win over Northern State. Elisa Mooney had 18 digs and Cammy Dranginis had five blocks as the Crusaders outhit Northern .168 to .066.

Dranginis, Grant and Barber all had nine kills against Dickinson as NNU outhit the NAIA school .344 to .080. Mooney had 17 digs.

Dranginis had a block to increase her career total to 403, breaking the GNAC career record of 402 set by the Crusaders' Louise Free between 1999 and 2002.

Crotteau had 29 kills and Jen Boe had 28 kills in MSUB's two victories. In the Yellowjackets' win over Mary, Boe led the way with 15 kills and Crotteau had 11 kills and hit for a .429 percentage. Jody Lutz had five kills, twice aces and a match-high seven blocks.

Crotteau had 18 kills and hit for a .500 percentage (18-3-30) to key MSUB's win against Dickinson. Boe had 13 kills and Hillary Morrison had 39 assists, giving her 73 on the day.

Seawolves, Nanooks Go 3-1 in Hawaii

Senior setter Calli Scott totaled 93 assists Saturday to boost Alaska Anchorage to a pair of victories over Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific in the Equus Challenge in Hawaii.

Both UAA and Alaska Fairbanks finished their trips to the island with 3-1 records as each team beat BYU-Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade and lost to unbeaten Hawaii Hilo.

On Saturday, the Seawolves (8-4) defeated Chaminade, 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21 and Hawaii Pacific, 26-24, 24-26, 27-25, 25-18. The Nanooks (6-5) beat BYU-Hawaii, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-18 after losing to Hawaii Hilo, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20.

Scott had 46 assists, eight kills and eight digs in UAA's win over Chaminade. Three players - Cortney Lundberg (17 kills), Jackie Mathisen (14 kills) and McKenzie Moss (10 kills) - were in double-figure kills. Stacie Meisner led the defense with 21 digs. Ashley Bates had four blocks.

Mathisen had 16 kills and Moss had 15 against Hawaii Pacific as Scott produced 47 assists. Mesiner had 25 digs and three aces and Bates had four blocks.

Megan Thigpen had a season-high 25 kills and a match-high 23 digs to lead Alaska Fairbanks past BYU-Hawaii. The Nanooks were also led by Sydney VanMunster with 11 kills and three blocks and Jessica Hill with 10 kills. Alexa Sherman had 47 assists and 18 digs.

Thigpen was credited with 11 kills in UAF's loss to Hawaii Hilo, which improved to 10-0. Sherman had 25 assists and Allison Oddy had 10 digs. Hilo outhit the Nanooks .248 to .118.

Seattle Pacific Snaps UBC 17-Match Win Streak

Sarah Risser, Cortney Weedman and Lindsey Wodrich all had double-doubles as Seattle Pacific (6-6) gave nationally seventh-ranked West Texas A&M all it could handle before falling short in a five-set marathon at the Western Washington Invitational volleyball tournament Saturday.

West Texas, which is a former three-time NCAA Division II national champion, pulled out a 15-25, 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 15-13 victory.

The Falcons closed the tournament with three-set sweep of two-time defending Canadian champion British Columbia in an exhibition match, 25-21, 25-22, 25-15. That snapped UBC's 17-match winning streak.

In other tournament matches Saturday, UBC defeated Western Oregon, 32-30, 25-21, 23-25, 25-14 in an exhibition match and Grand Canyon beat both Central Washington (16-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-23) and Western Oregon (25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 25-19).

West Texas beat Western Washington, 25-14, 25-17, 25-21 to complete the tournament as the only unbeaten team.

Risser, who was one of six GNAC players named to the 12-woman all-tournament team, had 19 kills and 16 digs against West Texas earning her fourth straight double-double.

Wodrich added 11 kills and 13 digs and Weedman had 30 assists and came up with 16 digs. Risser and sophomore outside hitter Paige Hoffman had nine kills apiece against British Columbia.

Danielle Reese had 17 kills and 10 digs and Sylvia Herrold had 10 in Western Oregon's loss to UBC. The Thunderbirds were led by Liz Cordonier with 14 kills.

Reese also led the Wolves (3-7) with 12 kills and 17 digs against Grand Canyon. Sharon Peterson and Herrold had 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Peterson had five blocks, while setter Amy Herron had 41 assists and three aces.

Central Washington outhit Grand Canyon .178 to .158 in its narrow loss, but was outblocked 15-9. Erin Norris and Kady Try led the Wildcats with 15 and 13 kills, respectively.

West Texas (10-2) outhit Western Washington, .276 to .093 to close out the tournament with a 4-0 record. Marlayna Geary led WWU with nine kills.

Geary joined Risser, Try, SPU's Amber Johnson, Reese, WWU libero Allison Gotz along with three players from West Texas, two from UBC and one from Grand Canyon on the all-tournament team.

September 11

Northwest Nazarene Wins GNAC Opener

Lindsay Grant had 22 kills and 32 digs to lead Northwest Nazarene to a pair of wins Friday, including a 3-1 victory over Montana State Billings in the GNAC opener for both teams.

The Crusaders defeated MSUB, 25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 25-17 in their opening match of the MSU Billings Invitational. The match was also designated as a conference counter between the two.

NNU (6-4) completed a sweep with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-13 conquest of the University of Mary.MSUB (4-5) lost its second tournament match to Northern State, 17-25, 25-17, 10-25, 25-20, 15-9.

Grant had 15 kills and 22 digs and hit for a .382 percentage against MSUB. Also in double figure kills were Alaina Barber with 13 kills and Cammy Dranginis with 10. Dranginis also had four blocks.

Devon Crotteau led the Yellowjackets with 22 kills and a .404 percentage (22-3-47). She also had 13 digs. Hillary Morrison had 40 assists.

Kailey Trautmann had 10 kills and 10 digs in NNU's win over Mary. Grant had seven kills and 10 digs. The Crusaders, who outhit MSUB .294 to .146, dominated Mary .337 to .084.

Crotteau had 15 kills and Jen Boe had 13 in MSUB's loss to Northern State. Jody Lutz was credited with seven blocks and Jill Trabing had 15 digs to pace the Yellowjacket defense.

Seattle Pacific Wins Fourth in a Row

Seattle Pacific ran its win streak to four matches defeating Grand Canyon, 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 in Day 2 of the Viking Invitational volleyball tournament on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium Friday in Bellingham.

The Falcons, who are 2-0 in the tournament and 6-5 on the season, were led by Sarah Risser with 18 kills and 12 digs as she recorded her third consecutive double-double.

Risser, who hit at a .317 clip (18-5-41), also had three aces. Anna Herold paced SPU defensively with 17 digs, while Angie Pricco blocked five attacks by Grand Canyon.

In other tournament matches, Western Washington (7-3) beat Grand Canyon and Central Washington (8-2) and Western Oregon (3-7) each split two, defeating Notre Dame deNamur and losing to West Texas A&M.

Marlayna Geary had 17 kills and Emily Jepsen had 10 kills and seven blocks in WWU's 25-10, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18 victory. Allison Gotz earned 23 digs and Bailey Jones had five blocks along with eight kills. Kathryn Mertens chipped in with nine kills.

Kristel Baeckel had a team-high nine kills and a .500 percentage (9-2-14) in Central's 25-13, 25-11, 25-22 win against Notre Dame de Namur. Erin Norris chipped in with seven kills, three aces and four blocks for a team-high 12 points.

Bri Gregory had seven kills and three blocks. Melissa Harper had 23 kills and Laura Prinsen had 21 as West Texas improved to 8-2 with a 22-25, 25-12, 26-24, 24-26, 15-13 win over the Wildcats.

Kady Try had 20 kills and Baeckel had 10 for CWU. Try also had three aces. Bri Gregory and Erin Morris had seven and six blocks, respectively.

Western Oregon recovered from a loss in the first set to defeat Notre Dame de Namur, 19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-13 before falling to West Texas, 25-17, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21.

Danielle Reese had 14 kills and Laura Sakala and Sylvia Herrold each had 12 kills to lead Western Oregon over NDDM.

The Wolves (3-6) outhit the Argonauts .252 to .153 as Amy Herron led the offense with 44 assists and Cally Young and Sakala led the defense with 21 digs and four blocks, respectively.

Reese chipped in with 19 more kills and 17 digs against West Texas. Herrold had 11 kills. Sakala and Reese also had three blocks apiece.

Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks Win On Island

Hawaii Hilo stayed unbeaten by recording its ninth consecutive win defeating Alaska Anchorage, 25-16, 25-11, 25-14 Friday in the Equus Challenge at Laie, Hawaii.

The Seawolves (6-4), however, bounced back to defeat BYU-Hawaii, rallying from a 2-0 set deficit, to win 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-10. Alaska Fairbanks improved to 5-4 with a 25-15, 25-23, 25-14 win over Hawaii Pacific.

UAA was held to a minus .069 percentage (17-24-101) in its loss to Hilo. Cortney Lundberg had a team-high six kills for the Seawolves. Jackie Mathisen had 25 kills, the second most so far this fall by a GNAC player, in UAA's victory.

Lundberg added 19 kills and McKenzie Moss had 14. Moss also had three aces and 21 digs. Calli Scott had 64 assists and Stacie Meisner earned 32 digs for Alaska Anchorage.

Jessica Hill and Megan Thigpen each had nine kills in Alaska Fairbanks' win as the Nanooks improved to 2-0 in the tournament.

Heather Lyons chipped in with eight kills and also had four aces and four blocks for a team-high 16 points.

September 10

Vikings, Falcons, Nanooks Record Victories

Emily Jepson had 14 kills and Marlayna Geary had 12 to lead Western Washington to a 25-19, 25-14, 25-13 win over Notre Dame de Namur in the opening day of the Viking Invitational Volleyball Tournament on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium Thursday.

The Vikings split two matches losing to two-time defending Canadian collegiate national champion University of British Columbia, 25-18, 25-15, 25-21 in a non-counter.

That match is not recorded in WWU's won-loss record or statistics per NCAA rules since UBC plays less than half of their matches this season against U.S. four-year degree granting institutions.

Seattle Pacific beat Notre Dame de Namur 24-26, 25-15, 25-14, 25-12 in its opening match. In another non-counter, Central Washington lost to UBC, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21.

Meanwhile in Honolulu, Alaska Fairbanks won its opening match in the Equus Challenge defeating Chaminade 25-20, 25-20, 14-25, 25-23 to even its record at 4-4.

Jepsen hit for a .545 percentage (14-2-22) to lead Western Washington (6-3) to a .360 percentage (44-8-100) in its victory. Setter Laurie Yearout was credited with 31 assists and two aces. Libero Allison Gotz had 15 digs and three of WWU's nine aces.

In its loss to UBC, Geary led the way with 12 kills and Jepsen had six kills and a team-best three blocks.

Seattle Pacific (5-5) rebounded from a 26-24 loss in the first set to win the next three sets by double-digit margins in its win. Sarah Risser and Lindsey Wodrich led the way with 18 kills each as SPU recorded its third win in a row.

Defensively, the Falcons were led by Anna Herold and Wodrich with 25 and 24 digs, respectively. Angie Pricco had four blocks as SPU outhit Notre Dame .316 to .118.

Central Washington was outhit .342 to .135 in its loss to British Columbia, which was led by Liz Cordonier with 14 kills. Marcy Hjellum had five kills to lead the Wildcats.

Megan Thigpen was credited with 13 kills and Jessica Hill had 10 in Alaska Fairbanks' victory. UAF outblocked the Silverswords 12-8 as Erica Gage was involved in nine of them, including one solo. Setter Alexa Sherman earned 40 assists.

September 8

Saints Sweep Geoducks for First Victory

Katy Ferguson had 10 kills and four blocks to lead Saint Martin's to a 26-24, 25-10, 25-15 victory over Evergreen State Tuesday at Lacey.

The Saints (1-6) held the Geoducks to a .000 percentage (21-21-91) in handing the visitors their ninth straight loss this fall. The win snapped a 15-match losing streak dating back to last fall.

SMU, meanwhile, hit for a .244 percentage, including .444 (10-2-18) by Ferguson. Kristin Anderson and Teilissa Tua each had seven kills. Setter Cymbree Decosta had 28 assists, six digs and three blocks.

September 5

GNAC Teams Lose Eight of 12 Matches

Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams won only four of 12 volleyball matches at six different venues Saturday.

Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks, Montana State Billings and Western Oregon each went 1-1, while Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin's sustained a pair of losses.

UAA (5-3) defeated winless Cal State Dominguez Hills, 25-16, 25-23, 25-14 before losing to seventh-ranked UC San Diego, 25-18, 25-16, 25-15 in the Triton Invitational at San Diego.

Alaska Fairbanks (3-4) lost to Hawaii Hilo, 25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 20-25, 15-9 after defeating Urbana, 25-15, 21-25, 25-18, 25-14 in the UAF Auto Service Nanook Classic.

Montana State Billings (4-3) swept Minot State, 25-21, 25-16, 25-14, then let a 2-0 lead get away in a 17-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-10 loss to the host school in the University of Mary Invitational.

Western Oregon (2-6) defeated Regis, 15-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 after losing to No. 25 ranked Augustana, S.D., 25-13, 25-15, 25-20, and Northwest Nazarene (4-4) was beaten by No. 23 Metro State, 29-27, 25-16, 25-21 and Southwest Minnesota, 25-15, 15-25, 25-21, 25-19 in the Colorado Premier Invitational in Denver.

Saint Martin's (0-6) remained winless in losses to Humboldt State, 25-8, 25-15, 25-20, and San Francisco State, 25-13, 25-16, 25-13, in the Notre Dame de Namur Invitational.

Jackie Matthisen had 14 kills, setter Calli Scott had 26 assists and libero Stacie Meisner had 10 digs in Alaska Anchorage's win over Cal State Dominguez Hills.

UAA held the Toros to a minus .011 hitting percentage and had a 7-3 advantage in blocks in the win, getting four from freshman Marie Morowikow.

UCSD improved to 8-0 with its victory over UAA, outhitting the Seawolves by 200 points (.357 to .157). McKenzie Moss led UAA with eight kills and Meisner had 22 digs.

Outside hitter Megan Thigpen and libero Allison Oddy earned all-tournament honors for Alaska Fairbanks. Thigpen had eight kills, two blocks and two aces in the Nanooks' win over Urbana and a team-best 15 kills, two aces and three blocks in a loss to Hawaii Hilo (8-0). Oddy had 28 digs and three aces in the two matches.

UAF also got a team-high 15 kills from Jessica Hill and 10 from Sydney VanMunster in its win. The Nanooks had 17 aces in the win (five by Heather Lyons and four from Hill), equaling the third best four-set match ace total in GNAC history.

Devon Crotteau led Montana State Billings with 13 kills and Jen Boe had 11 in its sweep of Minot State. Hillary Morrison was credited with 41 assists.

Crotteau had 19 kills and Boe had 17 in MSUB's loss to Mary. The 'Jacks also got 43 assists from Morrison, six aces from Hannah Johnson and 17 digs from Crotteau.

Danielle Reese had 13 kills and Sylvia Herrold had 12 in Western Oregon's win against Regis. The Wolves outblocked Regis 11-5 as Lisa Martini led the way with six. Sharon Peterson and Samantha Ward each contributed to five of the blocks. Amy Herron had 41 assists and Danielle English earned 27 digs.

The Wolves were outhit .333 to .061 by Augustana. Herold and Reese each had six kills and Laura Sakala had three blocks for WOU.

Lindsay Grant had a team-high 10 kills in Northwest Nazarene's loss to Metro. Grant also led the way against Southwest Minnesota with 12, while Alaina Barber had 10.

Saint Martin's had identical .000 hitting percentages in its losses to Humboldt State (22-22-92) and San Francisco State (17-17-100). On the day, Malia Ibarra led SMU with nine kills. Teilissa Tua and Katy Ferguson had eight each.

September 4

Marble Co-MVP In CWU Invitational

Central Washington setter Carlee Marble had 72 assists in six sets Friday and was named the Co-MVP in the CWU Invitational volleyball tournament.

Marble led the Wildcats, who are now 7-1 on the season, to a 4-0 tournament record. Sonoma State (8-0), which handed the Wildcats their only loss of the season in a tournament last week at Rohnert Park, also won all four of its matches. SSU setter Lindsay Brown shared the MVP award with Marble.

Central Washington needed 57 minutes to beat Walla Walla, 25-8, 25-9, 25-12 and also beat BYU-Hawaii, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21 in Friday's matches.

In other CWU tournament matches Friday, Seattle Pacific (4-5) defeated BYU-Hawaii, 25-19, 19-25, 25-16, 25-17 and Evergreen State 25-12, 25-11, 25-17 and Western Washington (5-3) lost twice falling to the Academy of the Art, 25-14, 25-23, 25-12 and Sonoma State, 24-26, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22. Both the Falcons and Vikings finished the tournament with 2-2 records.

Meanwhile in San Diego, McKenzie Moss had 13 kills and Cortney Lundberg chipped in with 10 as Alaska Anchorage (4-2) cruised past nationally-ranked Cal State L.A. 25-14, 25-22, 25-18 in the Triton Invitational.

CSLA came into the match tied with Western Washington for 21st in the AVCA national rankings.

In their second match, the Seawolves won the first set against No. 2 ranked Cal State San Bernardino before falling to the Coyotes, 19-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-21.

In Denver, Western Oregon and Northwest Nazarene each lost matches to Top 10 teams in the Colorado Premier Invitational. No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul swept Western Oregon, 25-14, 25-16, 25-16, and No. 9 Tampa beat Northwest Nazarene, 25-20, 25-11, 25-20.

The Crusaders (4-2) bounced back to beat No. 25 Augustana, S.D. 25-22, 25-22, 25-18. WOU (1-5), however, lost its second match to 23rd ranked Metro State, 25-12, 25-17, 25-23

At Sioux Falls, Montana State Billings (3-2) defeated Montana State Northern, 21-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 15-7 in the University of Mary Invitational.

In the Notre Dame De Namur Invitational in San Francisco, Saint Martin's (0-4) lost a pair of matches falling to Cal State East Bay, 25-22, 27-25, 25-21 and to Chico State, 25-12, 25-12, 25-23.

In the UAF Auto Service Nanook Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks (2-3) defeated Rockhurst, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-18.

Marble, who averaged 10.73 assists per set in the tournament, had 23 in two sets against Walla Walla and 49 in four sets against BYU-Hawaii.

Kristel Baeckel had seven kills and Kady Try had six as CWU outhit Walla Walla .362 to minus .030. Erin Norris played in just one set and had five service aces.

Try, who was named to the all-tournament team, and Norris had 16 kills apiece against BYU-Hawaii. Try and Bri Gregory each had five blocks and Norris had two service aces.

Jessica Bettencourt led Seattle Pacific past BYU-Hawaii with 14 kills, while Lindsey Wodrich had 11 and Sarah Risser chipped in with 10. Anna Herold was credited with 36 digs and Amber Johnson had four blocks to lead the Falcons defensively.

Hannah Bell had a team-best 11 kills against Evergreen. The Falcons were also led by Angie Pricco with five blocks and Herold with 11 digs.

Dan Yang had 24 kills in Academy of Art's win over Western Washington as the Vikings were outhit .293 to .048. Marlayna Geary led WWU with eight kills. Bailey Jones had four blocks.

Keala Peterson had 22 kills and Allyson Sather had 21 in Sonoma's win over Western Washington. The Vikings got 11 kills from Emily Jepsen and 10 from Kathryn Mertens. Bailey Jones had five blocks and setter Laurie Yearout had four blocks in addition to 36 assists.

Geary and Allison Gotz, who had 61 digs in the Vikings' four matches, earned all-tournament honors for WWU.

At San Diego, UAA outhit Cal State L.A. .277 to .030 in its win as Calli Scott had 36 assists. Defensively, Stacie Meisner and Jackie Matthisen contributed 13 and 12 digs. Ashley Bates had six blocks and Lundberg had five. UAA outblocked CSLA 11-7.

Moss got 16 kills and Matthisen had 11 in the Seawolves loss to CSU San Bernardino, which hit for a .374 percentage compared to UAA's .198. Scott had 31 assists in the match.

At Denver, Sadie Kessler led four Concordia-St. Paul players in double figures in its win over Western Oregon with 13 kills. The Wolves managed just 22 kills, five by Sharon Peterson in the 70 minute match.

Danielle Reese had eight of WOU's 27 kills against Metro State as the Wolves were outhit .361 to .184. Cally Young led Western Oregon defensively with 14 digs.

Tampa held Northwest Nazarene to a .000 hitting percentage (26-26-116) in beating the Crusaders. Cammy Dranginis had nine of NNU's 26 kills and participated in three of its four blocks.

NNU bounced back to outhit Augustana .250 to .126 as Dranginis and Lindsay Grant each had 11 kills. Dranginis and Becky Flores were each credited with three blocks. Haley Hevern had 15 digs.

At Sioux Falls, Devon Crotteau had a GNAC season-best 28 kills in Montana State Billings' come-from-behind win over MSU Northern as the Yellowjackets won the final two sets to pull out the 3-2 win.

Also in double figures in kills were Jen Boe with 13 kills and Hannah Johnson with 11. Setter Hillary Morrison had 46 assists and Jody Lutz and Johnson each had six blocks.

At San Francisco, Teilissa Tua had nine kills and Cymbree Decosta had 21 assists and 14 digs for Saint Martin's in its loss to East Bay. Kristin Anderson led the Saints with six kills against Chico State.

At Fairbanks, Megan Thigpen had 19 kills, 10 digs and six aces to lead Alaska Fairbank past Rockhurst. Jessica Hill was also in double figure killswith 10. Alexa Sherman was credited with 37 assists and Marybeth Wikander had six blocks.

September 3

CWU, WWU Win Twice; Flick Records 200th Career Victory

Kady Try had 16 kills and 14 digs and setter Carlee Marble contributed 31 assists and 22 digs to lead Central Washington to a 28-26, 17-25, 25-15, 28-26 win over the Academy of the Art Thursday in Day 1 of the CWU Invitational volleyball tournament.

The Wildcats also beat Evergreen State, 25-7, 25-13, 25-11 to improve to 5-1 on the season.

AAU split its two matches defeating Seattle Pacific 25-16, 24-26, 27-25, 16-25, 16-14 in its earlier match. The Falcons (2-5) finished Day 1 0-2 also losing to Sonoma State, 25-15, 25-19, 25-11.

Western Washington (5-1) earned two wins, defeating Walla Walla, 25-13, 25-16, 25-15 to give coach Diane Flick her 200th career win. The Vikings then came back to beat BYU-Hawaii, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21.

CWU trailed 26-25 in the fourth set, but an attack error and two kills by Meg Ryan, her 10th and 11th of the match, gave the Wildcats the 3-1 victory over Academy of Arts. Joining Try and Ryan in double figures kills was Eric Norris with 15.

Kristel Baecklel had five blocks, including three solos and Bri Gregory scored 13 1/2 points, getting seven kills, four aces and four blocks, to contribute to the win.

Fourteen different players had kills and 16 scored points for the Wildcats in their win against Evergreen State. Marcy Hjellum led the way with five kills. Bri Gregory had four kills and four blocks.

Academy of Art got 19 kills from Dan Yang and 10 from Amy Bush in its win over Seattle Pacific (2-5). SPU was led by Priscilla Collings with 15 kills.

The Falcons had leads of 5-1 and 11-8 in the decisive fifth set before the Urban Knights came back to tie it at 11-11. SPU went back up 12-11, 13-12 and 14-13 before AAU tied it at 14-14. Yang then got kills on the final two points.

Outside hitter Sarah Risser had 11 kills and 12 digs and setter Cortney Weedman racked up 28 assists for SPU. Joelle Perez added 20 assists. Middle blocker Amber Johnson tied her career high with seven total blocks. Libero Anna Herold led the way with 15 digs.

Risser had a team-high 11 kills in SPU's loss to Sonoma State, which improved to 6-0. Paige Hoffman and Lindsey Wodrich had six each. Herold had 13 digs.

Megan Amundson had 12 kills in 21 swings without an error and also contributed 10 digs in Flick's 200th victory. Laurie Yearout had 32 assists.

“The best part of the 200 victories is the players that I've been able to share them all with,” said Flick, who has a record of 200-51 and a .797 percentage since taking over in 2000.

Middle blocker Emily Jepsen had eight kills, six digs, two blocks and two service aces for the Vikings. Her ace closed out the match.

Marlayna Geary had 14 kills and 15 digs in Western Washington's win over BYU-Hawaii. Allison Gotz had 29 digs and Jepsen had eight kills and six blocks.

September 2

Hawaii Hilo Rallies To Beat Seattle Pacific

Hawaii Hilo came back from a two-set deficit to defeat Seattle Pacific, 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-8 Wednesday afternoon and remain unbeaten in five matches. The Falcons are 2-3.

In an evening match. Saint Martin's (0-2) lost to Pacific Lutheran, 25-19, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19.

Hawaii Hilo, which is 3-0 against GNAC teams, was led by Josimara Pinheiro with 14 kills, though she was also charged with 15 errors. Morgan Bonney and Kawena Cubi-Otineru had 13 kills each and Fabiane Seben had 12 kills and contributed to five of UHH's 13 blocks.

Sarah Risser and Lindsey Wodrich had 18 and 17 kills, respectively, to lead SPU.

The Falcons wiped out an early four-point deficit to take Set 1, then led all the way in Set 2 except for a 14-14 tie. The third set was tied 7-7 when Hilo went on an 8-2 run to take command.

SPU climbed out of a six-point hole to tied the fourth set at 19-19 before the Vulcans went back ahead to stay. The Vulcans then led the deciding fifth set from start to finish after scoring the first three points.

Risser hit .205 for the match. The Falcons hit .161 as a team, while Hawaii Hilo hit .206.

SPU setter Joelle Perez had 29 assists, libero Anna Herold contributed 19 digs and freshman Angie Pricco had six of Seattle Pacific's 16 blocks.

Kelsie Moore keyed Pacific Lutheran's victory with 16 kills. Saint Martin's (0-2) was led by Teilissa Tua with 12 kills and 10 digs. Kristin Anderson had seven kills, 17 digs, three blocks and one ace.

September 1

Saints Lose Opener to Hawaii Hilo

Fabiane Seben had 11 kills and Hawaii Hilo outhit Saint Martin's .300 to .029 in handing the Saints a 25-14, 25-17, 25-17 NCAA West Region loss Tuesday at Lacey.

The match was the season opener for Saint Martin's, which was led by Malia Ibarra with seven kills. Teilissa Tua had nine digs and Sarah Gann had three blocks.

August 29

Vikings, Falcons Pull Off Upset Victories

Calli Scott

Western Washington and Seattle Pacific posted victories over nationally ranked teams and setter Calli Scott earned Most Outstanding Player honors in leading Alaska Anchorage to the team title in the UAA Extended Stay Invitational Saturday.

Western Washington defeated 20th ranked Cal State L.A. 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-12, and Ashland, 24-26, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20 to finish with a 3-1 record in the Southern Cal Classic.

Seattle Pacific upset nationally 18th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona, 25-23, 25-14, 25-15, before losing to Ashland, 20-25, 33-31, 25-23, 25-16, to wind up the tournament with a 2-2 record.

Alaska Fairbanks split two matches to finish the tournament at 1-3. Second ranked Cal State Bernardino beat the Nanooks 25-17, 27-25, 25-19. UAF, however, bounced back to defeat Cal State Dominguez Hills, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19.

Alaska Anchorage defeated the Academy of the Art, 25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 25-14 in the championship match of its own tournament to finish the opening weekend with a 3-1 record. Earlier Saturday, the Seawolves beat Mary 18-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-13 to advance to the title match.

Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene both finished with 3-1 records in the Sonoma State Invitational, while Western Oregon ended up with a 1-3 record.

The Wildcats beat Cal State Stanislaus, 25-10, 25-16, 25-16 before losing to the host Seawolves, 25-19, 25-17, 25-14. Meanwhile, NNU beat both Chico State 23-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 and Humboldt State, 25-15, 25-19, 20-25, 25-20.

Western Oregon lost to San Francisco State, 27-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-16 before defeating Humboldt State, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-15 for its first victory of the season.

Meanwhile, Montana State Billings finished 2-2 in the HPU Aqua Hotel Invitational losing to Hawaii Hilo, 25-14, 25-18, 25-21 before rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Chaminade, 17-25, 12-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-10.

Outside hitters Marlayna Geary and Megan Amundson led Western Washington to its wins. Geary had 23 kills and 12 digs and Amundson had 14 kills and 14 digs in the Vikings' win over Cal State L.A. Emily Jepsen chipped in with 11 kills.

Amundson also had 16 kills and 10 digs, while Geary had 13 kills and 15 digs against Ashland. The Vikings also got 10 kills from Emily Jepsen and 34 assists, 10 digs and five blocks from Laurie Yearout against Ashland. Jepsen also had five blocks.

Priscilla Collings had 10 kills and hit .318 in Seattle Pacific's victory. Sarah Risser added nine kills and Paige Hoffman had four blocks. The Falcons hit .250 for the match while holding Pomona to a .022 percentage.

SPU was down 23-22 in Set 1, but scored the final three points to win it. In the second set, the Falcons raced to a 7-2 lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way. The Falcons went on a 5-0 surge to overcome a 10-7 deficit in the third set and complete the sweep.

Risser had 13 kills and 11 digs and Hoffman had 10 kills in SPU's loss to Ashland.

Megan Thigpen led Alaska Fairbanks with 17 kills and Heather Lyons had 12 in Alaska Fairbanks' victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Nanooks outhit the Toros .317 to .174 and also had 11 aces, including four by Allison Oddy.

Thigpen had 11 kills and 16 digs for UAF in its loss. Jessica Hill had seven kills and Melissa Refuerzo chipped in with six.

Scott's Most Outstanding Player award was her second in a row in the Extended Stay Invitational. She had 43 assists, seven digs, seven blocks and two aces in the title match after contributing 48 assists, 10 digs and two blocks in a 3-1 win over Mary.

“Calli was incredible tonight,” said UAA head coach Chris Green. “She does so many things right, along with providing the leadership for a very young team. But really all of our players stepped up and made a difference as you can see by our balanced stats.”

The Seawolves had four players in double figure kills against AAU, led by Jackie Mathisen with 14, McKenzie Moss with 13 and Cortney Lundberg and Marie Borowikow with 12 each. Lundborg also had seven blocks.

Moss delivered 20 kills and 14 digs in UAA's victory over Mary. Matthisen had 17 kills on .341 hitting, plus nine digs and Borowikow was also in double figures with 11 kills.

Moss (.400), Matthisen and Borowikow (.346) all topped the .300 attack percentage mark as UAA hit .336 as a team. Both Moss and Matthisen joined Scott on the all-tournament team.

At Rohnert Park, Kady Try had 10 kills, eight digs and four blocks in Central Washington's win. Megan Ryan chipped in with nine kills and eight digs. Erin Norris had four aces.

Norris, who was named to the all-tournament team, had 10 kills in CWU's loss to Sonoma State, which outhit the Wildcats .285 to .130 and finished the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.

Lindsay Grant had 16 kills and 16 digs and Cammy Dranginis was credited with 13 kills and three blocks in Northwest Nazarene's first win. The Crusaders outhit Chico .304 to .173.

Dranginis, who earned all-tournament honors, and Grant each had 15 kills and Alaina Barber had 11 in NNU's win over Humboldt State. The Crusaders won despite being outblocked 13-0 and committing eight reception errors. They outhit the 'Jacks .189 to .090 in the contest.

Samantha Ward and Danielle Reese each had 12 kills and Sharon Peterson and Ward had seven and five blocks, respectively, in Western Oregon's victory.

Reese had 20 kills to lead WOU against San Francisco State. Cally Young had 18 digs and Amy Herron had 41 assists in the loss.

Devon Crotteau had 13 of MSU Billings' 21 kills and a match-high four aces in its loss to Hawaii Hilo. The Yellowjackets were outhit .360 to .066.

MSUB got 18 kills from Crotteau, 14 from Jen Boe and 10 from Hannah Johnson in its come-from-behind win against Chaminade. Jody Lutaz and Johnson each had four blocks and Whitney Micklesen had 16 digs to lead the defense.

“We started out poorly tonight (against Chaminade), but what a great turnaround in the last three sets,” said head coach Steve Smith. “After the first two sets it was great to see the team impose their will and decide enough was enough and dig down deep to come back and win.

"Chaminade has a very good team but Whitney (Mickelsen) and Morgan (Moss) were really big on defense for us tonight."

August 28

Central Washington Records Two Victories

Erin Norris had 16 kills and Kady Tri had 12 kills and 14 digs as Central Washington outlasted San Francisco State, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 13-25, 15-10 Friday in the opening match of the Sonoma State Invitational at Rohnert Park.

The Wildcats then swept past Humboldt State, 25-21, 25-17, 26-24 to finish the day unbeaten.

After losing the fourth set to SFSU by 12 points, Central rebounded to win the decisive fifth set, holding the Gators to a .071 percentage.

CWU outblocked the Gators 7-3 in the match as Kristel Baeckel had five including one solo. Brandi Vea also contributed defensively with 19 digs. Norris had four aces and two blocks.

Central Washington was outhit .109 to .087 and outblocked 13-4, but still managed to sweep Humboldt State on the strength of an 18-5 advantage on serves. CWU had eight more aces (11-3), five by Norris, and five fewer service errors (7-2) than the 'Jacks.

Meg Ryan led the 'Cats with nine kills. Brandi Vea had 20 digs. Setter Carlee Marble had 72 assists in CWU's two matches, including 25 against Humboldt.

Northwest Nazarene split its two matches at Rohnert Park, defeating Cal State Stanislaus, 25-6, 24-26, 25-17, 25-15, before losing to San Francisco State, 25-27, 25-20, 25-22, 25-21.

Cammy Dranginis, a three-time GNAC first-team all-star, and Lindsay Grant each had 11 kills and Dranginis also had five blocks, including three solos in NNU's victory.

The Crusaders outblocked the Warriors 7-1 and outhit the CCAA school .205 to .068, including a dominating .269 to minus .188 performance in the first set.

Leading the defense in addition to Dranginis were Haley Hevern with 19 digs and Grant and Kailey Trautmann with 13 each. Eli Punimata had 12 digs.

Dranginis had 17 kills and five blocks, while Grant had 13 kills and 17 digs in NNU's loss to San Francisco State. NNU, which was outhit .218 to .176, also got 11 kills from Becky Flores ands 21 digs from Haley Hevern in the loss.

Defending GNAC champion Western Oregon lost both of its matches, falling to Chico State, 25-22, 25-17, 25-23, and Sonoma State, 25-16, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23.

Chico hit at a .404 clip in its win. Western Oregon got eight kills from Sylvia Herrold. Herold (8-1-16) and Laura Sakala (6-0-11) hit for .438 and .545 percentages, but the rest of the team had just a total of 23 kills.

Herold had a match-high 11 kills against Sonoma State. Sakala recorded a .500 percentage (9-1-16), however, the Wolves were outhit .257 to .094 in the match.

In the Southern California Classic, GNAC teams lost three of their four matches.

Freshman Marlayna Geary had 18 kills and Emily Jepsen had 14 as Western Washington beat Cal State Dominguez Hills 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20 for the lone win.

The Vikings were also led by Megan Amundson with 11 kills. Laurie Yearout had 42 assists enabling WWU to hit for a .377 percentage (59-13-122). Defensively Allison Gotz led the way with 13 digs and also contributed five aces.

Cal State San Bernardino, the national runner-up a year ago, outhit Western Washington .310 to .078 in defeating the Vikings, 25-14, 25-19, 25-23. Geary had a team-best 10 kills. Jepsen contributed to all four of WWU's blocks.

Both Alaska Fairbanks and Seattle Pacific lost to Cal State L.A. Megan Thigpen had 11 kills and Alexa Sherman had 26 assists and 12 digs in UAF's 25-12, 26-24, 25-22 defeat.

The Nanooks were outhit .297 to .198 and also surrendered 11 aces to the Golden Eagles.

Cal State L.A. also outhit the Falcons .264 to .119 in a 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 victory. Priscilla Collings led SPU with nine kills and 12 digs. Sarah Risser had six kills.

The Falcons trailed through most of the first two sets, but rallied from four points down to take a 21-19 lead in the third set. The Golden Eagles then scored six of the final eight points to clinch the victory.

McKenzie Moss had 14 kills and four blocks and Alaska Anchorage held Kentucky Wesleyan to a minus .111 hitting percentage in sweeping the Panthers 25-14, 25-13, 25-11 in the UAA Extended Stay Deluxe Invitational at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

UAA recorded the fifth lowest opponent hitting percentage in GNAC history in the winning giving up just 15 kills and forcing 24 errors in 81 swings. UAA outblocked the Kentucky school 8-2.

UAA, however, lost its second match as Academy of Art took the key rallies late in the first and third sets to earn a 28-26, 17-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-10 win.

UAA was led by 15 kills, eight digs and four blocks from Jackie Matthisen, plus 14 kills, 13 digs and two aces from Moss.

Freshman middle blocker Marie Borowikow had 12 kills and five total blocks, while setter Calli Scott notched 44 assists and nine digs.

In the Hawaii Pacific Aqua Invitational, BYU-Hawaii defeated Montana State Billings, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-17.

Devon Crotteau led the Yellowjackets with 13 points ans 12 digs. Whitney Micklesen had 24 digs for MSUB, which was outhit .127 to .053.

August 27

Seattle Pacific Sweeps Past Dominguez Hills In Opener

Outside hitter Sarah Risser had 17 kills and Joelle Perez came up big on both offense and defense as Seattle Pacific swept Cal State Dominguez Hills in the opening match of the Southern California Classic volleyball tournament Thursday night in Carson, Calif.

In another tournament match at Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona defeated Alaska Fairbanks 3-0, winning each set by the identical score of 25-23. Neither team led by more than five points in any of the sets.

Meanwhile in Honolulu, Devon Crotteau had 23 kills and hit for a .525 percentage (23-2-40) to lead Montana State Billings to a 15-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 15-11 win over Hawaii Pacific.

After leading most of the way through the first two sets, Seattle Pacific came from behind and fought off two set points in the third set to finish the sweep of the Toros, 25-20, 25-19, 28-26.

Risser hit .361 for the match for Seattle Pacific. Perez had a double-double of 18 assists and 12 digs.

“Sarah was absolutely outstanding. She played solid the whole match,” SPU coach Chris Johnson said. “And it was a great night for Joelle. She was battling a lot of pain in her foot, and played great anyway. She had good sets, made good decisions and got some real good digs.”

Amber Johnson, a transfer from Whatcom CC, had four solo blocks, three block assists and seven kills, hitting .778. Priscilla Collings also added seven kills for the Falcons. Seattle Pacific hit .259 for the match, including .323 in the first game and .324 in the second. Dominguez hit just .057.

Kristin McNeese had 12 kills and Cal Poly Pomona outhit Alaska Fairbanks .227 to .128 in its win. Megan Thigpen had 10 kills for the Nanooks, who also got nine kills from Jessica Hill. Marybeth Wikander had four blocks.

Montana State Billings' win was its first-ever win against Hawaii Pacific in 16 attempts. It also marked the coaching debut of new coach Steve Smith.

In addition to Crotteau, MSUB was also led by Jen Boe with 19 kills. Defensively, Whitney Micklesen and Hannah Johnson led the Yellowjackets with 19 digs and four blocks, respectively. Johnson also had six kills and two aces.