ANCHORAGE ? Senior Rhea Cardwell had five of her 23 kills in the fifth set, including a resounding slam on match point, to boost the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to a hard-fought 25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 15-25, 15-11 victory over Central Washington at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex on Saturday.
The Seawolves (12-9, 4-4 GNAC) also got eight block assists and a career-high 15 kills from sophomore Cortney Lundeberg to snap a three-match losing streak. UAA's victory snapped a 10-match losing skid in the series, having not beaten the Wildcats since Nov. 1, 2002.
Outside hitter Kady Try led CWU (12-7, 4-3) with 19 kills and libero Brandie Vea had 31 digs as the visitors from Ellensburg, Wash., made a valiant comeback effort before losing their second straight.
UAA, which had a season-high 16 blocks as a team, easily handled the Wildcats in the first two sets.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, though, and CWU eked out the win behind Try's eight kills in the frame. UAA appeared to completely lose momentum in the fourth, falling behind 13-1 before rallying to make the score respectable.
A re-energized Seawolf squad then took the court in the fifth, erasing an early 5-2 deficit and pulling away from an 8-8 tie. UAA got a big lift off the bench from true freshman McKenzie Moss as the Anchorage native ripped her only kill of the night to make it 10-8, forcing a timeout by CWU.
The visitors never regained momentum, however, as Cardwell smashed a kill to make it 14-10 and delivered one point later to close the deal.
Cardwell had her second straight 20-kill outing and reached that mark for the sixth time on the season. The outside hitter also had 13 digs for her fifth straight and 11th overall double-double.
The rest of UAA's offense came from senior outside hitter Rachel Kidwell, who also posted her fifth straight double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. Lundberg, meanwhile, finished with a .500 or better hitting percentage for the eighth time, posting with a line of 15 kills on 28 attacks with just one error.
UAA's back-row defense was led by senior Joanna Johnson with 22 digs and junior libero Stacie Meisner with 21 digs. The team's 89 digs were just one short of UAA's season-high in that category.
The Seawolves are back in action Wednesday when they host arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks at 7 p.m. at the WFSC.
