THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...

Thu. Nov. 7 — 7 pm AST — Alaska Airlines Center (aux. gym) — Anchorage, AK
Western Oregon (4-17, 2-12 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (16-6, 11-3 GNAC)
&
Sat., Nov. 9 — 2 pm AST — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Concordia-Portland (8-13, 6-8 GNAC [11/7 @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: gnac.tv
 
LIVE STATS: goseawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAVolleyball Twitter feed for in-match updates.
 
TICKETS: AlaskaAirlinesCenter.com
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2019 stats)
S—Ellen Floyd, 5-10, So. (10.17 aps, 0.55 kps, .077 att%, 2.62 dps, 0.68 bps)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, So. (3.89 kps, .247 att%, 2.28 dps, 0.85 bps)
MB—Kayla McGlathery, 6-0, Jr. (2.28 kps, .311 att%, 1.05 bps)
MB—Vera Pluharova, 6-2, Jr. (1.31 kps, .310 att%, 1.28 bps)
OH—Vanessa Hayes, 5-11, Sr. (2.75 kps, .201 att%, 1.29 dps, 0.53 ace/set)
DS—Anjoilyn Vreeland, 5-6, Jr. (2.89 dps, 0.29 ace/set)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, So. (3.95 dps, 0.71 aps, 0.20 ace/set)
 
DEFENSE CANNOT REST: With six matches left in the regular season and the first version of the NCAA Div. II regional rankings set for Wednesday, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team will defend its home court this week against 10th-place Western Oregon and 7th-place Concordia-Portland ... with ESPN taking over the main arena for Friday's Armed Forces Classic basketball event, Thursday's contest vs. WOU is set to be the first volleyball match ever played in the Alaska Airlines Center's auxiliary gymnasium ... Saturday's matinee moves back to the main arena.
 
ROAD SPLIT: The Seawolves ran their winning streak to four with a 25-20, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22 win at Northwest Nazarene before seeing it come to an end at Central Washington, falling 15-10 in the fifth set last week ... on Thursday, So. RS Eve Stephens smashed 19 kills and had 10 digs, while So. S Ellen Floyd delivered 51 assists, 11 digs and 3 aces to fend off the Nighthawks ... UAA also had two players reach the 20-dig plateau in the same match for the first time this year as So. L Talia Leauanae gathered 21 digs and Jr. DS Anjoilyn Vreeland had 20 ... on Saturday, Stephens tied her career high with 23 kills but UAA could not captalize on a 2-1 advantage, settling for a season series split with Central Washington ... Sr. OH Vanessa Hayes had 12 kills, Sr. MB Kayla McGlathery had 10 kills and 8 total blocks, and Floyd tallied 45 assists and a career-high 21 digs in the loss.
 
THE SERIES
vs. WOU: UAA leads 24-15 overall, 12-7 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 13
Last: UAA 3-2 (10-12-19 at WOU)
Notes: The Seawolves have swept six straight season series ... UAA has won the last six straight in Anchorage, taking 18 of 19 sets ... UAA won 3-1 last season in Anchorage ... teams have played only three 5-setters since 2006 ... UAA leads 23-14 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) and 16-7 under head coach Chris Green (since 2008) ... series started in 1981 but teams did not play again until 1999.
 
vs. CU: UAA leads 9-0 overall, 4-0 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-0 (10-10-19 at CU)
Notes: UAA has swept six of the first nine meetings since Concordia joined the GNAC in 2015, including all four matches in Anchorage ... first meeting was a UAA road sweep, Sept. 19, 2015.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Western Oregon has registered both if its GNAC victories over Saint Martin's, snapping an 8-match losing skid Saturday with a 3-1 home win over the Saints ... WOU's loss to UAA in Monmouth is the Wolves' lone 5-set match this season ... the Wolves are led by Sianna DeCarli (2.79 kps, .181 att%, 0.59 bps) and Lauren Smith (2.16 kps, .109 att%, 1.44 dps) ... following a 7-3 stretch, Concordia-Portland has lost five of its last six to fall into the lower half of the league standings ... with victories over Simon Fraser and UAF to their credit, the Cavaliers are led by Jessica Wheeler (3.12 kps, .187 att%, 2.97 dps) and Zoe DiNardo (2.20 kps, .124 att%).
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the GNAC with 2.21 aces per set and ranks 2nd in blocks per set (2.47) and attack pct. (.227) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, the Seawolves rank 5th in aces, 8th in blocking and 52nd in attack pct. ... the Seawolves are 67-16 (.807) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 113-27 (.807) at home since 2009; UAA has never lost consecutive matches at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA has reached the 20-win plateau 14 times in 39 years and six times in 11 years under Chris Green ... the Seawolves have clinched their 12th straight winning season, extending the program record that began with Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... UAA has also extended a program-best streak of 11 straight winning conference records and is on pace for its 11th straight and top-4 GNAC finish ... the Seawolves are 19-14 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 29-41 overall vs. ranked opponents under Green; prior to Green's arrival, UAA had lost 32 straight to ranked foes ... UAA set an Alaska Airlines Center record for attack percentage in the 25-8, 25-12, 25-12 win over Concord, hitting .444 (37-9-63), while the Mountain Lions' 32 points were the second-fewest allowed by a Seawolf club since 25-point rally scoring took effect in 2008.
 
ROCKIN' EVE: Rightside hitter Eve Stephens delivered one of the best rookie seasons in Seawolf history last year, claiming unanimous First Team All-GNAC, Second Team All-West Region and GNAC Freshman of the Year honors, and this year she started with All-GNAC Preseason Team, all-tournament honors at both the D2 West Region Showcase and Seawolf Invitational, and GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for Sept. 16-22 ... in the GNAC stats, the former Colony High School star leads the way in kills per set (3.89) and points per set (4.57), along with ranks of 13th in blocking (0.85 bps) and 16th in attack pct. (.247) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, she is 24th in points and 31st in kills ... playing all rotations after being subbed on the back row last year, Stephens has recorded a team-high 10 double-doubles (including a current streak of six in a row), averaging 2.28 dps ... on UAA's career lists, the Palmer native currently ranks 5th in kills per set (3.49) and 8th in attack pct. (.284).
 
HAYES MAKER: Sr. OH Vanessa Hayes made the move from middle blocker to outside hitter last year and showed steady improvement, averaging 2.56 kps on .189 hitting ... a Preseason All-GNAC selection in her final campaign, Hayes has looked like a veteran on the outside this year, hitting .201 and collecting 2.75 kills per set ... along with her GNAC-leading 0.53 aces per set (15th nationally), she also ranks 10th in points per set (3.47) and 14th in kills per set ... the Oregon native earned her third career double-double with 14 kills and a career-high 13 digs in the 5-set win over Biola and has produced double-digit kills in 14 of 22 matches this year, including a career-high 18 kills in the 4-set win over No. 2 Western Washington ... a starter on UAA's 2016 NCAA Runner-Up squad, she ranks in UAA's career top 20 lists in multiple categories, currently at 7th in block assists (276), 11th in total blocks (297), 13th in kills (877), 14th in matches played (117), 5th in sets played (448) and 5th in victories (90); with two victories this weekend, she would catch Seawolf Hall of Famer Jen Szczerbinski (1988-92) for No. 4 on that list.
 
THE ELLEN SHOW: So. S Ellen Floyd has  dished 10.17 assists per set to rank 2nd in the conference and 40th nationally, improving her average to 10.73 aps in GNAC matches ... having started the year with all-tournament honors at both the Seawolf Invitational and D2 West Region Showcase, the Florida native already stands 8th on UAA's career list with 1,760 assists, boosted by season-high 52-assist efforts in 4-set wins over Saint Martin's and MSU Billings, and 51 in last week's 4-setter at NW Nazarene; she is 4th Seawolf history in terms of career assists average at 9.17 aps ... along with the third-highest digs average on the team (2.62 dps), she also ranks 4th in the GNAC and 41st nationally with 0.46 aces per set.
 
MORE 'WOLF BITES:  Jr. MB Vera Pluharova and Jr. MB Kayla McGlathery give UAA two front-liners among the GNAC's top-10 blocking leaders and are a huge reason the Seawolves rank 8th nationally in that category ... now in her second year as a starter, Pluharova ranks 2nd in the league with 1.28 bps, while McGlathery is 5th with 1.05 bps ... the 2014 GNAC Newcomer of the Year and an all-league pick, McGlathery has returned to the Seawolves this season after taking four years off from the sport and also currently ranks 4th in the league with a .311 attack pecentage ... meanwhile, Pluharova has recorded at least 6 kills on .300 hitting in six matches, including 9 kills (.438) in the road sweep of Concordia and a career-high 11 kills (.474) in the 5-set win over UAF ... the Czech's hitting percentage of .310 would rank 5th in the GNAC if she met the league minimum of 3.0 attacks per set ... the Seawolves are well stocked at the libero and DS positions, with So. Talia Leauanae and Jr. Anjoilyn Vreeland sharing time in both roles  ... Leauanae ranks 9th in the GNAC with 3.95 digs per set, following recent efforts of 28 digs (career high) in the loss to Simon Fraser, 17 digs in the upset of Western Washington, 24 in the win over UAF and 21 in the win at NNU ... over the last six matches, the Hawaiian is averaging 4.74 dps ... a former Dimond High standout, Vreeland is second on the team with 2.89 dps, posting double-digit digs in 11 of 22 matches ... Vreeland stands  15th on UAA's career list with 3.15 dps, and she recently broke a program record with 7 aces in the win over UAF ... Fr. DS Maggie Schlueter has made her debut after a redshirt campaign and shown off a dangerous serve, producing 44 aces and just 32 errors ... the Texan is 3rd in the GNAC and ranks 22nd nationally with 0.51 aces per set, serving at least one ace in 18 of 22 matches.
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 11 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (249-96, .722) has established himself as the most successful coach in program history and one of the top mentors in the NCAA Div. II ranks, earning the 2016 AVCA D-II National Coach of the Year award ... a 4-time GNAC Coach of the Year (2009, '13, '15, '16) and 3-time AVCA D-II West Region Coach of the Year (2009, '15, '16), Green has led UAA to NCAA Tournament berths in seven of the last nine seasons, capturing No. 1 seeds in 2015 and 2016; in the 28 years before Green's arrival, the Seawolves made two NCAAs ... UAA has won at a .778 clip (158-45) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .820 (105-23) in league play ... Green's UAA teams have produced six All-Americans, five GNAC Players of the Year, six GNAC Newcomers of the Year and five GNAC Freshmen of the Year ... hired in Feb. 2008 as the sixth coach in UAA Volleyball history, Green spent the previous nine seasons (1999-07) as the head coach at Western Nebraska Community College, where he built a powerhouse program ... among his list of accomplishments at WNCC were a 453-55 record, the 2007 NJCAA Div. I national championship, 2006 NJCAA runner-up, and four straight 'Final 4' berths ... the Cougars finished in the top 10 at the national tournament in all of Green's seasons, producing a total of 10 first-team and six second-team All-America certificates ... in 2011, he was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame.
 
2019 INDIVIDUAL HONORS
ELLEN FLOYD
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
D2 West Region Showcase All-Tournament Team
GNAC All-Academic Team
VANESSA HAYES
GNAC Preseason Team
GNAC All-Academic Team
JALISA INGRAM
GNAC All-Academic Team
TALIA LEAUANAE
GNAC All-Academic Team
KAYLA McGLATHERY
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 30-Oct. 6
VERA PLUHAROVA
GNAC All-Academic Team
EVE STEPHENS
GNAC Preseason Team
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
D2 West Region Showcase All-Tournament Team
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 16-22
GNAC All-Academic Team (highest GPA)
ANJOILYN VREELAND
GNAC All-Academic Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2019
INDIVIDUAL
Most Aces* — 7, Anjoilyn Vreeland vs Alaska Fairbanks, 10/22 (old record: 6, several times)
Match
TEAM
Match
Fewest Points Allowed, Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014) — 32 vs Concord, 9/6 (old record: 34 vs MSU Billings, 9/24/15)
Best Hitting Pct., Home Match^ — .444 (37-9-63) vs Concord, 9/6 (old record: .437 vs MSU Billings, 9/21/13)
Misc.
Most Consecutive Wins vs. Opponent — 23 vs Saint Martin's (extends record)
Most Consecutive Winning Seasons — 12 (2008-19, extends record)
Most Consecutive Winning Conference Records ­— 11 (2009-19, extends record)
^since rally scoring implemented in 2001
*since 25-point rally-scoring system implemented in 2008