Wednesday, December 7, 2016
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – While it is Alaska Anchorage’s first time in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Elite Eight, the Seawolves aren’t acting like it.
The Seawolves are treating the trip to the Sanford Pentagon exactly as it should be: a business trip. A long day of travel made for an early next morning. As the lower seed in the first quarterfinal match, the No. 6 seeded Alaska Anchorage had the first practice slot on Wednesday morning and ran through preparations to face No. 3 seed Angelo State on Thursday at noon local time (9 a.m. Alaska/10 a.m. Pacific).
“ We got in pretty late night, but its been a great experience so far,” said Seawolves’ All-American setter Morgan Hooe. “It is the first time we have made it in our school history for us, so it means a lot to us and to the city of Anchorage too. We need to get some good rest and get the feeling of the court out there. Coach is already breaking down some film for us so we can know the opponent.”
Despite their 32-2 record, Alaska Anchorage might float under the radar thanks to its No. 6 seeding in the first time that the Elite Eight has been reseeded following regional play. But the team’s statistics should put opponents on notice. The Seawolves are ranked in the top-50 in Division II in every major statistical category, including sixth in blocks per set (2.40), seventh in opponent hitting percentage (.120) and ninth in total blocks (290).
Angelo State, the champions of the South Central region, enter the Elite Eight with experience on their side. The Belles are 34-3 overall and won both the Lone Star Conference regular season and tournament titles. Their three losses all came in five sets against then No. 5 ranked Southwest Minnesota State and LSC foes West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico. The Belles are led statistically by consensus first team All-American outside hitter Mallory Blauser, who enters the tournament ranked 11th in Division II at 4.33 kills per set.
Other top performers for Angelo State include outside hitter Brianna Sotello (3.30 kills per set, 3.44 digs per set, .233 hitting percentage) and second team AVCA All-American setter Meghan Parker (11.49 assisrts per set, 2.35 digs per set).
Alaska Anchorage and Angelo State are two of six No. 1 seeds to advance to the Elite Eight. The team that advances to the semifinals will also face another No. 1 regional seed. Palm Beach Atlantic (31-3) won the South Regional in four sets over Florida Southern and earned the No. 2 seed in the Elite Eight. South Carolina-Aiken (31-4), the No. 7 seed, went five sets with Queens (N.C.) to win the Southeast Regional, earning its first ever trip to the Elite Eight.
This will be the first ever meeting for Alaska Anchorage against Angelo State and either of the potential semifinal opponents.
The opposite side of the Elite Eight bracket includes defending national champion and No. 4 seed Wheeling Jesuit (41-2) against No. 5 seed Lewis (28-7) and No. 1 seed Concordia-St. Paul (32-2) against No. 8 seed American International (28-6).
GNAC NEWS & NOTES
THE GNAC IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: Alaska Anchorage’s run marks just the third time that a GNAC team has advanced past the regional stage. Western Washington won the West Region title last year and won its quarterfinal match over Rockhurst in four sets before losing in the semifinals to eventual national champion Wheeling Jesuit. The Vikings also advanced to the Elite Eight in 2007, knocking off Dowling in three sets in the quarterfinals before losing to Washburn in four sets in the semifinals.
The GNAC advanced five teams to the West Region Championship for the first time. The previous record for GNAC participation was four teams in the 2014 West Regional, which was hosted by Northwest Nazarene.
WEST REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS: With three conference teams advancing to the semifinals, the GNAC received 10 of 12 positions on the West Region Championships All-Tournament Team. The champion Seawolves placed four players on the squad: Hooe, outside hitter Erin Braun and middle blockers Diana Fa’amausili and Leah Swiss. Regional runner-up Western Washington netted three selections in middle blocker Kayleigh Harper and outside hitter Abby Phelps and Arielle Turner. Northwest Nazarene had three selections in outside hitter Kendra Bodine, setter Hailey Cook and middle blocker Madi Farrell.
OTHER WEST REGION TIDBITS: Northwest Nazarene’s four-set win over Simon Fraser in the quarterfinals was the first NCAA postseason win in program history and was just the third postseason win for a team sport since NNU joined Division II. It also marked the first time this season that the Crusaders had taken a set off of Simon Fraser…The Clan made their first NCAA postseason appearance in program history. It capped a great turnaround for head coach Gina Schmidt, who saw the Clan finish 11-13 overall in 2014 and has coached SFU to winning record each of the last three seasons.
ATTENDANCE RECORDS: The crowd of 2,710 fans that watched Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington battle for the West Region title at the Alaska Airlines Center set an attendance record for a volleyball match at both the arena and for the program. The match boasted not only the second best attendance figure in Division II this season, but drew the second most fans of any Division II over the last three years. The West Region Tournament averaged 1,169 fans per match with, predictably, over 1,700 coming out for all three UAA matches.
Alaska Anchorage will lead Division II in attendance once again, averaging 1,387 per match over 17 matches at the Alaska Airlines Center. The Seawolves had five of the top-10 crowds nationally this year, three of which came during the West Region Tournament.
NINE GNAC PERFORMERS NAMED ALL-AMERICANS: After a great run into the postseason for five team, a total of nine Great Northwest Athletic Conference athletes have been honored as Division II volleyball All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association (D2CCA).
Alaska Anchorage senior setter Morgan Hooe and Northwest Nazarene junior middle blocker Madi Farrell lead the lists. Both players were named to named to both the AVCA first team and the D2CCA third team. Alaska Anchorage sophomore outside hitter Leah Swiss was selected to the AVCA second team and as an honorable mention to the D2CCA squad. Simon Fraser senior libero Alison McKay was named to the AVCA third team and as an honorable mention.
Five other GNAC players were named honorable mentions to the AVCA All-America Team: Northwest Nazarene junior outside hitter Kendra Bodine, Alaska Anchorage freshman right side Diana Fa’amausili, Western Washington sophomore middle blocker Kayleigh Harper and sophomore outside hitter Abby Phelps; and Central Washington junior middle blocker Sabrina Wheelhouse. Read Full Story