ANCHORAGE – Powered by 12 kills from outside hitter Katelynn Zanders and an excellent team defensive effort, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team earned its seventh straight win with a 25-13, 26-24, 25-20 sweep of 24th-ranked Central Washington at the Alaska Airlines Center on Thursday night.
The Seawolves (17-3, 11-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) got 20 digs and a career-high-tying four aces from senior libero Quinn Barker, while outblocking the visitors 14-10 and holding them to an .033 attack percentage. CWU came into the match hitting a league-best .228.
The Wildcats (14-6, 7-5) were led by eight kills from outside hitter Kiah Jones and 18 digs from libero Kaely Kight as their four-match winning streak came to an end.
UAA's victory sets up a first-place showdown Saturday night when 16th-ranked Northwest Nazarene (18-2, 11-1) comes to the Alaska Airlines Center at 7 p.m. The Crusaders have won five straight and are responsible for UAA's only conference loss with a 3-1 decision last month in Idaho.
UAA dominated the first set Thursday by hitting .361 (15 kills-2 errors-36 attacks), but the Wildcats kept things tight and grew their second-set lead to 20-16 in the late-going. The Seawolves answered with a 7-1 run at that point, getting two kills from sophomore middle blocker Kayla McGlathery in the stretch. CWU responded with a kill and a block to tie it, 23-23, before UAA earned set point on a kill by Erin Braun. After surviving the next rally, however, CWU's Kaitlin Quirk hit the ball long and Braun ended it with resounding kill down the middle.
The Seawolves never trailed in the third, using an 8-3 run midway through the frame to pull away.
Senior outside hitter Brooke Pottle finished with nine kills and eight digs, while Braun had eight kills, seven block assists and five digs. McGlathery added five kills and seven total blocks.
Sophomore setter Morgan Hooe also continued her strong play with 38 assists, seven digs and a career-high five block assists, and junior outside hitter Sarah Johnson contributed two aces, two kills and a season-best 12 digs.
The win gives UAA a season sweep of the Wildcats, along with a 5-set thriller in Ellensburg on Sept. 27.
NOTES: The Seawolves matched the best record in program history after 20 matches, along with the 1988 club … Zanders' career kills total rose to 933, now just five behind Carolyn DeKay (2001-04) for seventh place on the UAA list … the match snapped a three-match winning streak for the visiting team in the UAA-CWU series … UAA now leads 20-17 all-time against CWU.
