ANCHORAGE – Sophomore Ellen Floyd dished 41 assists and junior Kayla McGlathery blasted 12 kills to power an efficient Alaska Anchorage offense Thursday in a 25-22, 25-21, 25-18 volleyball sweep of Central Washington at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (9-4, 4-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 11 kills on .297 hitting, eight digs and three blocks from sophomore right-side hitter Eve Stephens as they moved one match ahead of the visitors in the league standings and into a tie for second place with Alaska Fairbanks.

The Wildcats (8-5, 3-2) were led by 10 kills and 11 digs from outside hitter Ashley Kaufman and a match-high 21 digs from libero Kyla Morgan, but the GNAC preseason co-favorites were outhit .302 to .163 and outblocked 8-5.

UAA earned the sweep despite a fast start by Central in the opening set. A kill by Kaufman gave her team a 16-11 lead before the Seawolves got back on track with consecutive kills from McGlathery and outside hitter Vanessa Hayes.

The set was tied 17-17, 18-18 and 20-20 before another Hayes kill was followed with back-to-back blocks from junior Vera Pluharova. Stephens – the GNAC's kills leader at 4.02 per set – then collected her first kill of the night to earn set point a few moments later.

"Central came out with excellent passing and was very sharp at the beginning of the match, but we did a nice job of hanging close until we could make our run," said UAA head coach Chris Green, whose team won for the sixth time in seven matches and snapped a 2-match skid against Central. "Vanessa's hitting really gave us a spark, and Ellen did well at spreading the offense among our other hitters from there. I was proud of our back-row defense, too."

McGlathery and Stephens each notched five kills in the second set to help UAA build a 23-9 lead, and the Seawolves held on despite a 12-1 run by the Wildcats, with McGlathery blasting a cross-court kill just inside the line for set point.

Consecutive kills by McGlathery gave UAA a 2-1 advantage in the third set, and the hosts would lead the rest of the way. UAA capped the victory on consecutive kills by freshman outside hitter Hannah Pembroke, who notched seven on the night.

Hayes finished with nine kills, Pluharova had six kills and five blocks, and sophomore libero Talia Leauanae led the Seawolves with 15 digs. Floyd – coming off a season-high 52 assists in Saturday's win over Montana State Billings – added three kills on .429 hitting, eight digs, three block assists and an ace.

UAA returns to the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. to face Northwest Nazarene (6-6, 2-3), which is coming off a 28-26, 21-25, 20-25, 25-15, 15-12 road upset of Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday.

NOTES: McGlathery equaled her season high in kills for the third time, although the first two occasions were in five and four sets, respectively … the team's lone senior, Hayes moved into 15th place on UAA's career kills list, now with 776 … UAA improved to 26-20 in the all-time series and 5-1 against Central since the Alaska Airlines Center opened in 2014 … the sweep was just UAA's fourth in 37 all-time GNAC meetings between the rivals.