Thursday, October 6, 2011

Marlayna Geary had 17 kills and 19 digs and Western Washington held on to a share of first place in the GNAC with a 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 win Thursday at Montana State Billings.

Alaska Anchorage (11-5, 7-1) stayed even with the Vikings (9-3, 7-1) by sweeping Central Washington, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 at Nicholson Pavilion. It was UAA's first sweep of the Wildcats in nearly 30 years.

Elsewhere in the GNAC Seattle Pacific and Northwest Nazarene earned home victories.

The Falcons (11-4, 6-1) remained one-half match back of the co-leaders with a 25-13, 25-18, 25-11, home sweep of Simon Fraser.

Meanwhile Northwest Nazarene (8-5, 5-3) defeated Alaska Fairbanks, 25-20, 25-15, 18-25, 25-17 to remain two matches back of UAA and WWU, which plays at Seattle Pacific Saturday. The Crusaders are tied for fourth with Western Oregon, which was idle.

Geary was joined in double figures by Emily Jepsen who had 12 kills and hit for a .458 percentage as she was charged with just one miscue in WWU's victory. Jepsen also had seven blocks, including three solos to account for 17 points.

Samantha Hutchinson led WWU defensively with 25 digs. Emily Boerger had four blocks.

Melissa Porter led MSUB (8-8, 2-5) with eight kills. Erin Compton was credited with a match-high 27 digs.

Jackie Matthisen had 18 kills and Nikki Viotto had 10 as Alaska Anchorage, which has won seven straight, earned its first 3-0 decision against the Wildcats (9-7, 3-5) since Nov. 12, 1981. That match was played in Anchorage.

“Jackie was really at the top of her game tonight,” said UAA head coach Chris Green. “She was able to see the openings in the defense and hit it effectively off their block.

"Overall, I'm proud of the way our team responded in a tough environment where we had our worst match (losing 3-0) a year ago.”

UAA won even though the Wildcats held Seawolf middle hitter Robyn Burton, who came into the match with one of the best hitting percentages in GNAC history (.401), to just three kills and a .071 percentage. Burton, however, did have five blocks.

Jordan Offutt paced CWU with 12 kills, while Meg Ryan had 10. Kaely Kight had 16 digs in the match that featured 40 ties and 15 lead changes.

Lindsey Wodrich and Paige Hoffman each had 10 kills and Seattle Pacific held Simon Fraser (0-12, 0-8) to a minus .023 percentage in its win.

Hoffman's 10 came in just 14 tries as she finished with a .643 percentage. Defensively, Anna Herold had 16 digs and Angie Pricco had four blocks to pace SPU.

Haley Abbott had a career-high 21 kills and six blocks to lead Northwest Nazarene to its victory over Alaska Fairbanks.

Abbott made only three errors in 42 swings finishing with a .429 percentage, twice the Crusaders' team percentage of .211, which was twice UAF's percentage of .101.

NNU was also led by Reisa Fessler with nine kills. Michelle Terpstra had 26 assists and 14 digs. Kailey Trautmann and Taylor Roberts had 20 and 18 digs, respectively.

Reilly Stevens paced the Nanooks (2-14, 2-6) with 12 kills and 14 digs. Casey Tidwell added nine kills and a team-best three blocks.