ANCHORAGE ? Led by career-high nights for five players, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team fought toe-to-toe with the 4th-ranked team in the West Region on Thursday but couldn't quite pull off the upset as Northwest Nazarene escaped with a 26-30, 30-25, 30-15, 31-29 victory at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
UAA (5-15, 1-13 GNAC) suffered its eighth straight loss despite getting 23 kills and 37 digs ? the most for a Seawolf in both categories this year ? from junior outside hitter Joanna Johnson.
Meanwhile, NNU (15-6, 9-4) improved its already-solid playoff chances behind 16 kills and 20 digs from Lindsay Forseth, plus 14 kills and 16 digs from Loni Evenson. It was the Crusaders' fifth straight victory and their ninth consecutive over UAA.
Buoyed by the return of outside hitter Rhea Cardwell (13 kills, 26 digs) from injury, the Seawolves bounced back from a 26-22 deficit in the first game. Behind the serve of Cardwell, who had missed the last six matches with a lower-leg stress fracture, the Seawolves scored the game's final eight points, including three straight kills by Johnson in the rally.
UAA recovered from an early 18-11 deficit in the second game to draw within 24-23, but a well-timed timeout by NNU head coach Jared Sliger regained the momentum for the visitors from Nampa, Idaho, as they rattled off six of the next eight points to even the match.
The Crusaders dominated in Game 3 and seemed to be on their way to an easy match victory with a 10-5 lead in the fourth, but the Seawolves showed off a never-say-die attitude, eventually going ahead 19-15. NNU then rallied to take a seemingly commanding 26-22 lead before consecutive kills by middle blocker Kim Stolk and Cardwell turned the momentum yet again.
Down 28-26 moments later, UAA got back-to-back-to-back kills from Rachel Kidwell, Jessica Morehouse and Cardwell to earn a game point. That would be the Seawolves' last hurrah, though, as NNU finished the match with a kill by Forseth and two straight by Evenson.
Johnson, who posted her fourth double-double in the last five matches, registered the second-most digs in Seawolf history behind Jen Szczerbinski's 39 in 1990. It was the first time since 2004 that a Seawolf had 30 or more in a match (Diana Gordon vs. Western Washington, 10/29/04). The Californian's 23 kills were two more than her career-best, set in the last match Saturday at Seattle.
Other individual career-bests for the Seawolves included Stolk's 19 kills, setter Milica Micovic's 62 assists, middle blocker Jessica Morehouse's 13 kills, and Kidwell's 26 digs.
Additionally, the Seawolves' totals in kills (74), digs (122) and assists (69) were all team season-highs.
UAA will try to get back on track Saturday when they host Seattle Pacific at the WFSC at 7 p.m.
