Scoreboard

Swiss, Seawolves fight off Crusaders in key regional tilt

Women's Volleyball UAA Media Relations

Swiss, Seawolves fight off Crusaders in key regional tilt

ANCHORAGE – Sophomore Leah Swiss smashed a career-high 27 kills Thursday to power 11th-ranked Alaska Anchorage to a 21-25, 32-30, 25-21, 25-15 victory over Northwest Nazarene in a key NCAA Div. II West Region volleyball match at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (26-2, 16-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) – ranked No. 1 in the official West Region poll – also got 53 assists and 16 digs from senior setter Morgan Hooe to earn their fifth straight win and sweep the season series from NNU.

The Crusaders (17-7, 10-7) got 20 kills on .576 hitting from middle blocker Madi Farrell, but the region's 6th-ranked team was outhit .221 to .166 and outblocked 14-8.

Freshman Diana Fa'amausili had 15 kills on .345 hitting and tied her career-high with eight block assists, while sophomore Chrisalyn Johnson earned her eighth double-double in the last nine matches with 12 kills and 17 digs.

With the win, UAA now needs just one victory in its final three regular-season matches to clinch at least a tie for the GNAC title.

After dropping the first set, the Seawolves were in major danger of going down 2-0 when Fa'amausili hit the ball into the net with the score tied 24-24 in the second. Swiss answered to tie it, however, and the outside hitter from Dimond High would give UAA leads of 27-26, 28-27 and 30-29 as the set went into extra rallies. Farrell ripped a kill down to the middle to make it 30-30, but freshman Vanessa Hayes dropped in a soft attack and Fa'amausili clinched it with a thundering kill.

The Seawolves took the lead five points into the third set and lead throughout. After a Swiss error made the score 23-21, the team's leading point producer recovered with a kill on the next point, and Fa'amausili and Erin Braun teamed to block NNU's Cami Heninger on set point.

NNU claimed a 3-1 lead early in the fourth before the Seawolves scored the next six points. Another 5-0 run made it 18-10, and UAA finished it off with consecutive kills by Swiss, Swiss again, and Braun.

Swiss – who hit .393 on the night – entered with a previous career high of 26 kills, set early this year in a 5-set win over Cal State San Bernardino.

Braun finished with seven kills on errorless hitting (.467) and added eight block assists, while sophomore libero Kyla Militante-Amper patrolled the back row with 20 digs and equaled her career high with seven assists.

Hooe added a pair of block assists while increasing her career assists total to 3,552 (No. 3 all-time at UAA).

The Seawolves play regionally 7th-ranked Central Washington in their regular-season home finale on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Alaska Airlines Center.  Fans with an ASAA State Volleyball ticket can receive $5 off the price of their UAA admission. For more information, visit GoSeawolves.com or call 907-786-1562.

NOTES: The Seawolves are now just one win shy of tying the school-record 27 victories from last season … should UAA tie or win the GNAC outright, it will mark the Seawolves' first back-to-back league titles in 37 years of program history … Fa'amausili and Braun each tied UAA's single-match high this season with their eight total blocks … Fa'amausili has notched double-digit kills in eight of the last 10 matches … Johnson's 17 digs equaled the second-most in her career … Militante-Amper now has 579 digs on the season to put her within easy striking distance of the Seawolf program record of 604, set by Jen Sczcerbinski in 1990 … now with 434 total blocks, Braun moved into third place on UAA's career list, surpassing Michelle Harlamert (430, 1989-91, '93); Braun is 11 shy of second place on that list, too (445, Sabrina Bingham, 1996-99) … Hooe had two aces to move into a tie for ninth place on UAA's career list with 107.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Erin Braun

#15 Erin Braun

MB
6' 0"
Freshman
Morgan Hooe

#2 Morgan Hooe

S
5' 6"
Freshman
Leah Swiss

#7 Leah Swiss

OH
6' 0"
Freshman
Chrisalyn Johnson

#9 Chrisalyn Johnson

OH
5' 9"
Freshman
Kyla Militante-Amper

#3 Kyla Militante-Amper

L/S
5' 3"
Freshman
Diana Fa

#17 Diana Fa'amausili

RS
5' 11"
Freshman
Vanessa Hayes

#18 Vanessa Hayes

MB
5' 11"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Erin Braun

#15 Erin Braun

6' 0"
Freshman
MB
Morgan Hooe

#2 Morgan Hooe

5' 6"
Freshman
S
Leah Swiss

#7 Leah Swiss

6' 0"
Freshman
OH
Chrisalyn Johnson

#9 Chrisalyn Johnson

5' 9"
Freshman
OH
Kyla Militante-Amper

#3 Kyla Militante-Amper

5' 3"
Freshman
L/S
Diana Fa

#17 Diana Fa'amausili

5' 11"
Freshman
RS
Vanessa Hayes

#18 Vanessa Hayes

5' 11"
Freshman
MB