BILLINGS, Mont. – Sophomore Eve Stephens launched 13 of her 20 kills over the final two sets to propel the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to its third straight victory on Thursday, defeating Montana State Billings 28-26, 15-25, 25-15, 25-10 at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Seawolves (15-5, 10-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 39 assists, 16 digs and a career-high-tying five aces from sophomore setter Ellen Floyd as they swept the season series for the second straight year and extended a program record by clinching their 12th consecutive winning season.

The Yellowjackets (7-14, 4-7) were led by 16 kills and 11 digs from outside hitter Bayli Monck but could not capitalize on a late first-set rally and a dominant second-set victory.

"If we hadn't gotten off to such a fast start in the first set, we could well have been down 0-2 and this would have been a different story altogether," said UAA head coach Chris Green, whose team held leads of 9-2 and 21-14 in the opening frame. "Billings played some incredible back-row defense and looked like a top-25 team in the second set, but fortunately we were able to find our stride during the second half of the match, and I think we wore them down in the third and fourth."

The first set wound up being the pivotal part of the match as UAA's 21-14 advantage evaporated thanks to an 8-0 Billings run. Consecutive kills by Kayla McGlathery, Vanessa Hayes and McGlathery again made it 24-22, before Billings answered with back-to-back kills of its own. Stephens finally gave UAA its fifth attempt at set point with a loud kill down the middle, and Talia Leauanae served an ace that flipped over the net to clinch it.

Despite hitting for a negative percentage in the second set, UAA came out strong in the third, pulling away from a 6-6 tie to take an 18-11 lead on three straight Stephens kills.

The Seawolves took over around the same point in set four, erasing a 6-5 deficit and making it 19-8 by winning seven rallies in a row. UAA won 13 of the final 15 points to wrap up the victory, which keeps it one-half match behind No. 6 Western Washington (18-1, 10-1) in the GNAC standings.

Stephens added 11 digs for her fourth straight double-double and eighth this season, while Hayes finished with 10 kills, eight digs and two aces. Leauanae made a match-high 20 digs, along with two aces and three assists, and McGlathery tallied eight kills.

The Seawolves get a rare Saturday off before returning to the road next week for GNAC matches at Northwest Nazarene (Oct. 31, 5 p.m. ADT) and Central Washington (Nov. 2, 6 p.m. ADT). Both of those contests can be seen live at gnac.tv.