Tuesday, October 24, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – With postseason play nearing, GNAC Insider aired Tuesday at 7 p.m., Pacific, hosted by Rob Lowery. This week’s guests were Alaska Anchorage junior outside hitter Leah Swiss, Northwest Nazarene women’s soccer forward Hannah Holm and Central Washington head football coach Ian Shoemaker.

Swiss, the two-time GNAC champion, has been a dominant force in GNAC volleyball during her three years. She has earned First Team All-GNAC honors each of her first two seasons and has been named to the Division II West Regional Championships All-Tournament Team on two occasions. Last year, Swiss claimed First Team All-West Region honors and was named a Second Team All-American by the D2CCA. Alaska Anchorage is currently in fourth place, suffering all three conference losses to top-25 teams. The Seawolves host a pair of big matchups this week as they take on No. 25 Central Washington and No. 10 Northwest Nazarene.

Coming to Northwest Nazarene from the University of Minnesota during her sophomore season, Holm has been a key part of the Nighthawks’ breakout season. She has started in all 11 of her appearances and scored the lone goal in NNU’s 1-0 overtime win against Western Oregon on Oct. 14. The win gave NNU its sixth conference win of the year, the most single-season GNAC wins the Nighthawks have achieved since 2012. With its 1-0 victory at Central Washington last weekend, the Nighthawks clinched its first GNAC Championships’ berth in program history. Northwest Nazarene has seven GNAC wins this year, which equals the amount of conference wins it achieved during the past three seasons combined. The Nighthawks host No. 2 Western Washington this Thursday.

Shoemaker appears to discuss Central Washington’s big matchup this week against Azusa Pacific. Not only will it be senior day for the Wildcats, but the contest will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3. Shoemaker is currently in his fourth season, leading a Wildcats’ team that has gone 8-0 thus far and are No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association Division II Coaches Poll. In his first three seasons, he led CWU to a 19-12 record and has produced four all-Americans, three of which have been on the defensive side. The ‘Cats are dominating opponents defensively, as they lead the GNAC in total defense, rushing defense, interceptions, opponent first downs, opponent third-down conversion and sacks.