THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Oct. 21 – Brougham Pavilion – Seattle, Wash. – 6 pm ADT
No. 24 Alaska Anchorage (15-5, 8-0 GNAC) at Seattle Pacific (9-7, 5-4 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Oct. 23 – Alterowitz Gymnasium – Billings, Mont. – 11 am ADT
No. 24 Alaska Anchorage at Montana State Billings (7-11, 3-6 GNAC [10/21 vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Free on YouTube ... find links at the UAA Volleyball schedule page at https://goseawolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule
 
LIVE STATS: Thursday at spufalcons.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
                       Saturday at msubsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
 
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAVolleyball Twitter feed for in-match updates
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2021 stats)
S—Ellen Floyd, 5-10, Jr. (9.96 aps, 0.92 kps, .134 att%, 3.00 dps, 0.47 bps, 0.50 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Jr. (3.89 kps, .273 att%, 2.28 dps, 0.81 bps, 0.47 ace/set)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, So. (2.61 kps, .207 att%)
MB—Vera Pluharova, 6-2, Sr. (1.86 kps, .361 att%, 0.99 bps)
MB—Akor Maywin, 6-2, Jr. (1.29 kps, .327 att%, 0.93 bps)
DS—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Fr. (1.60 dps, 0.22 ace/set)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Jr. (3.53 dps, 0.50 ace/set, 0.65 aps)
 
THE SERIES...
vs SPU: UAA leads 31-29 overall, 15-14 in Seattle
Last: UAA 3-0 (9/25/21 at UAA) / Streak: UAA 5
Notes: UAA has won 16 of the last 17 meetings to retake the series lead for the first time since 1993, when it led 3-2 ... UAA has won 10 straight in Seattle, with SPU's last win coming Oct. 29, 2011 ... UAA is 22-5 against SPU under head coach Chris Green and leads 24-15 in GNAC matches ... first meetings came in 1991 as members of the Pac West Conference.
 
vs MSUB: UAA leads 52-11 overall, 24-6 in Billings
Last: UAA 3-0 (9/23/21 at UAA) / Streak: UAA 5
Notes: The Seawolves have won 20 of the past 21 meetings, including 3-1 wins in both 2019 contests ... UAA has won 10 straight in Billings, with MSUB's last win coming over the Seawolves' first GNAC title team on Sept. 28, 2009 ... MSUB's lone win last decade was a 3-1 upset in UAA's 2017 home finale ... teams have not played a 5-setter since 2008 ... UAA leads 21-6 since MSUB joined the GNAC in 2007, including 21-4 under Chris Green ... MSUB is UAA's 2nd-most common opponent, trailing only UAF … teams met twice per season every year from 1985-2000 as members of the Pac West.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: A streaky team all season, Seattle Pacific returns home Thusrday for the first time in 19 days, trying to bounce back from losses at No. 20 Western Washington and Simon Fraser last week ... the Falcons, who own impressive wins over Biola, then-No. 13 St. Cloud State and Central Washington, are led by OH Maddie Batiste (2.71 kps, .168 att%, 2.27 dps) and MB Hannah Hair (2.41 kps, .320 att%, 1.31 bps) ... Montana State Billings enters Thursday's match against UAF with a three-match losing skid ... the Yellowjackets are led by OH Bayli Monck (3.47 kps, .273 att%, 2.50 dps, 0.55 bps) and OH Skylar Reed (2.94 kps, .196 att%, 1.40 dps).
 
EIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH: The Seawolves continued their longest overall and GNAC win streaks since 2016 by winning their eighth straight last week, beating Alaska Fairbanks 25-23, 25-16, 25-22 at the Alaska Airlines Center … Fr. OH Mahala Kaapuni and Jr. RS Eve Stephens tallied 10 kills apiece and Jr. S Ellen Floyd managed 33 assists and 11 digs to help UAA outhit UAF .239 to .028 and remain unbeaten in seven all-time meetings at the AAC ... the Seawolves also got 9 kills on .571 hitting and 4 block assists from Sr. MB Vera Pluharova and a team-high 12 digs and 3 digs from Jr. L Talia Leauanae.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA returned to the NCAA Div. II national poll Oct. 11 week for the first time since Sept. 25, 2017, which was the last of a program-record 32 consecutive weeks in the rankings ... the Seawolves' current 14-match GNAC winning streak (dating to Nov. 7, 2019) is the program's second-longest, trailing only the 22 straight from Oct. 17, 2015 to Oct. 20, 2016 ... the eight straight GNAC wins in one season are UAA's most since going on 11- and 8-match win streaks in the 2016 NCAA runner-up season ... UAA leads the GNAC statistics with 2.21 aces per set (14th nationally), a .239 attack percentage (40th nationally) and a .143 opponent attack pct. ... the Seawolves need just one more win to secure their 14th consecutive winning season and extend the program record that began with Chris Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... the Seawolves are 79-17 (.823) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 126-29 (.813) 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 its 39 full seasons and seven times in 12 full seasons under Green ... UAA is also trying to extend program-best streaks of 11 straight winning conference records and top-4 GNAC finishes ... the Seawolves are 21-15 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 31-42 overall vs. ranked opponents under Green; prior to Green's arrival, UAA had lost 32 straight to ranked foes.
 
GOOD EVE: Jr. RS Eve Stephens has lived up to her GNAC Preseason Player of the Year billing, earning two GNAC offensive player-of-the-week accolades, along with all-tournament honors at the Seawolf Invitational and the Nanook Classic ... the 2019 AVCA Second Team All-American and two-time unanimous All-GNAC honoree leads the GNAC with 4.82 points per set (8th nationally), along with league ranks of 3rd in kills per set (3.89), 4th in aces per set (0.47) and 11th in hitting pct. (.273) ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has seven double-doubles this year and 25 for her career after leading the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... with 1,285 career kills, Stephens has already risen to No. 3 on UAA's career list and needs 107 more to catch Katelynn Zanders (1,392, 2012-15) for No. 2 ... on UAA's other career lists, she currently ranks 3rd in kps (3.70), 8th in attack percentage (.285), 9th in block assists (260), 13th in total blocks (277) and 15th in victories (68) ... a star in the classroom as well, Stephens was voted CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 in 2019 with her GNAC-best 4.00 GPA in accounting.
 
THINK FLOYD: Another preseason All-GNAC pick, Jr. S Ellen Floyd captured GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for her effort in Hawaii and was an all-tournament pick at the Seawolf Invitational ... the 2019 All-GNAC selection and AVCA honorable mention All-American leads the GNAC with 0.50 aces per set (39th nationally) and ranks 3rd with 9.96 assists per set, along with 16th in digs per set (3.00) – all while piloting an offense that has outhit its opponents .239 to .143 ... she has produced double-digit digs in 13 of 20 outings, finishing with 17 digs and tying her career high with 7 kills in the win over Chaminade, and tallying 52 assists and 19 digs in the win over Biola ... with another season remaining, Floyd is on pace to break UAA's all-time assists and aces records, already standing 4th with 3,333 assists and 2nd with 150 aces (needs 12 to tie Jen Szczerbinski, 162 aces, 1988-92) ... her other career ranks stand at 3rd in assists average (9.47 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.425) and 14th in victories (70).
 
'WOLF BITES: Following her GNAC Defensive Player of the Week performance against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, Sr. MB Vera Pluharova continued her fine play against UAF, smashing 9 kils on .571 hitting and making 4 block assists ... hitting .551 over the last four contests, the 4-year starter now leads the GNAC with a .361 attack pct., and is 9th with 0.90 blocks per set ... Pluharova ranks 5th on UAA's career list in blocks per set (1.09), plus 3rd in block assists (357, needs two to tie for No. 2), 6th in total blocks (404), 9th in attack pct. (.280) and 11th in victories (77) ... the Czech has hit .700 or better in three matches this year, breaking the 20-year-old school record for attack percentage with a .917 (career-high-tying 11 kills, no errors, 12 attacks) performance in the second match of the year at Hawaii Pacific ... Jr. L Talia Leauanae is one of four Seawolves with three-plus years of experience in Green & Gold, and she has produced well with 3.51 digs per set (12th in GNAC) and 0.50 aces per set (tied with Floyd for GNAC lead) ... the Maui native has three matches with 20-plus digs this year, and she recently had her most assists in back-to-back contests with a career-high 9 against CWU and 6 against NNU ... Leauanae ranks 15th on UAA's career list with 3.20 digs per set ... So. OH Lisa Jaunet has raised her level of play in the GNAC thus far, producing 2.93 kills per set (9th in the leauge) on .292 hitting (8th in the league) in the last seven matches ... the St. Denis, France, native and State College of Florida transfer had her second-most kills (15) against Saint Martin's and posted consecutive career-best hitting percentages of .476 at Western Oregon, .500 against Seattle Pacific and .500 at Simon Fraser ... Jaunet ranks 18th in the overall GNAC stats with 2.61 kills per set ... Fr. OH Mahala Kaapuni has also come on strong in GNAC play, ranking 14th in attack pct. (.278) and 16th in kills (2.55 kps) in league matches ... the Big Island product has notched at least six kills in each GNAC contest, including season highs of 12 at Saint Martin's and 13 at Simon Fraser.
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 13 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (282-106, .727) has established himself as the most successful coach in program history and one of the top mentors in the NCAA Div. II ranks, earning his fifth GNAC Coach of the Year award in 2019 ('09, '13, '15, '16) ... the 2016 AVCA D-II National Coach of the Year and 3-time AVCA D-II West Region Coach of the Year (2009, '15, '16), Green has led UAA to NCAA Tournament berths in eight of the last 10 full seasons, capturing No. 1 seeds in 2015 and 2016, and piloting the Seawolves to the national title match in 2016 ... in the 28 years before Green's arrival, the Seawolves made just two NCAA appearances ... UAA has won at a .776 clip (191-55) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .838 (119-23) in league play ... Green's UAA teams have produced eight 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.
 
2021 Individual Honors
ELLEN FLOYD
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Aug. 23-29
Preseason All-GNAC Team
EVE STEPHENS
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Oct. 4-10
Nanook Classic All-Tournament Team
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Aug. 23-29
Preseason All-GNAC Team
GNAC Preseason Player of the Year
VERA PLUHAROVA
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Oct. 4-10
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2021
INDIVIDUAL
Match
Best Attack Pct. (min. 11 attacks) — .917 [11-0-12] by Vera Pluharova at Hawaii Pacific, Aug. 28 (old record: .909 [10-0-11] by Janelle Veith vs Seattle, 10/20/01)
TEAM
Match
Fewest Blocks Allowed — 0 vs Northwest Nazarene, Oct. 9 (breaks or ties unresearched record)
MISC.
Most Consecutive Wins vs Opponent — 26 vs Saint Martin's, 2008-current