Saturday, September 24, 2011

Robyn Burton had 12 kills and 10 total blocks to lead Alaska Anchorage to a 27-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-18 upset of 25th-ranked Western Washington Saturday night at Carver Gymnasium.

The Seawolves (8-5, 4-1), who host 15th ranked Seattle Pacific (9-3, 4-0) next Thursday, stayed just one-half match back of the Falcons and moved to within one-half match of the Vikings (7-3, 5-1) with the win.

The victory also snapped WWU's 13-match home win streak dating back to the end of the 2009 season.

Seattle Pacific needed just 64 minutes to cruise past Saint Martin's, 25-9, 25-19, 25-16, in a Saturday afternoon match at Brougham Pavilion and remain as the lone unbeaten team in conference play.

Meanwhile, Montana State Billings (8-5, 2-2) overcame a 2-1 set deficit to beat Western Oregon, 26-24, 22-25, 26-28, 26-24, 15-13. Four of the five sets were decided by the minimum two-point margin.

Alaska Fairbanks (1-12, 1-4) snapped its 12-match losing streak and kept Simon Fraser (0-10, 0-6) winless with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-10, 25-9 victory.

In a non-conference match, Northwest Nazarene (6-4) swept Walla Walla, 25-15, 25-8, 25-19.

Alaska Anchorage, which hit for a .259 average, got a season-high 51 assists from setter Kimya Jafroudi in its win. The Seawolves hit a robust .448 in the clinching fourth set.

Outside hitter Jackie Matthisen had 18 kills and 10 digs and right-side hitter Ariel Austin had 13 kills.

Outside hitter Marlayna Geary led Western Washington with a match-high 19 kills and 14 digs, but the Vikings playing before a home crowd of 938 could not convert early advantages in the first and second sets.

UAA trailed 9-4 in the first set before scrapping back to tie it at 18. The Vikings earned a set point at 25-24, but Matthisen responded with her fifth kill for the equalizer.

Geary was then blocked by Austin and Miranda Doing, and Austin converted a kill to give the Seawolves the early advantage.

Doing then came up big in the second set, helping UAA recover from a 13-8 deficit with four timely kills. The junior middle blocker rallied the Seawolves within striking distance at 21-18, before Burton and Matthisen took over, combining for four kills and two blocks in a 7-point run.

WWU retained its lead throughout the third set, but UAA finally got off to a good start in the fourth, grabbing a 13-9 lead on a Burton kill midway through.

The Vikings crept within two points on three occasions and trailed 21-18 when a Burton block and two straight Matthisen kills quickly led to match point, with Geary hitting the ball wide.

The Seawolves' win was just their second in 13 all-time visits to Bellingham, but the second in the last three seasons. It was the teams' first meeting since the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament when WWU handed UAA a 3-1 loss.

Burton matched her career-high in total blocks and earned her second career double-double. The GNAC's attack percentage leader hit four points better than her average coming in, converting at a .409 clip (12-3-22).

Matthisen, meanwhile, reached the 900-kill mark for her career as she hit .364 (18-2-44) and earned three total blocks.

Doing had seven kills on .545 hitting and four block assists, and Austin converted at a .364 clip after missing the last two matches with a knee strain.

Sophomore libero Quincy Haught paced the back-row defense with 15 digs.

In addition to Geary, Western Washington got double-figure kills from Emily Jepsen (14) and Emily Boerger (12). Samantha Hutchinson matched Haught's match-high dig total of 15. Jepsen also had five blocks but also had five service errors.

Seattle Pacific, which will be seeking its first win in Anchorage since 2007 next Thursday, was led by Lindsey Wodrich with 15 kills and a pair of service aces in its win. Wodrich also had two blocks and finished with a total of 18 points.

Paige Hoffman hit .412 (8-1-17) and Nikki Lowell posted a .583 percentage (7-0-12) as SPU outhit Saint Martin's (3-8, 2-4) by a .264 to .044 count.

Setter Shelby Swanson had team highs of 28 assists and 16 digs. The Falcons had nine aces in the contest including three by Brianna Leenders.

Saint Martin's was paced by Kristyn Ross with six kills. Katy Ferguson had five blocks and Brianna Bautista had 13 digs.

Monica Grimsrud had a GNAC season-high 26 kills, including match point in Montana State Billings' victory.

Grimsrud, who hit for a .400 average (26-6-50) helped rally the Yellowjackets from a 16-9 deficit in the fourth set.

Tied at 24-24, Grimsrud and Chelsey Walter, who had seven kills and a match-high seven blocks, had kills to force the fifth set.

In the fifth set, WOU went ahead 14-9 before the Wolves (8-5, 2-2) fought off four match points. Grimsrud, however, then earned her 26th kill to end it.

In addition to Grimsrud, MSUB also got 11 kills and six blocks from Melissa Porter and 54 assists and 17 digs from Brooke Tolman.

Danielle Reese paced Western Oregon with 21 kills. Three players - Krissi Kemper, Corynn Kopra and Samantha Ward - had a dozen kills for the Wolves. Megan Triggs led WOU with 21 digs.

Karlee Skalla had 16 kills and 16 digs to help Alaska Fairbanks snap its losing streak. UAF, which outhit the Clan .143 to .032, also got nine kills and 11 digs from Reilly Stevens and 17 digs from Allison Oddy.

Kristjana Fridfinnson led Simon Fraser with nine kills and four blocks, including three solos. Kelsey Robinson had eight kills.

Reisa Fessler had 11 kills and hit for a .769 percentage in Northwest Nazarene's victory. The Crusaders, who hit .322, also got seven kills from Carly Dranginis and 10 digs from Taylor Roberts.