THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Oct. 7 – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska – 7 pm ADT
#25 Central Washington (8-3, 4-1 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (12-5, 5-0 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Oct. 9 – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska – 7 pm ADT
Northwest Nazarene (2-10, 0-5 GNAC [10/7 @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Both matches free on YouTube ... find links at the UAA Volleyball schedule page at https://goseawolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule
 
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
 
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAVolleyball Twitter feed for in-match updates
 
TICKETS: Surf to GoSeawolves.com to purchase tickets and get parking information for the Alaska Airlines Center ... masks are required for all attendees.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2021 stats)
S—Ellen Floyd, 5-10, Jr. (9.85 aps, 0.82 kps, .117 att%, 2.95 dps, 0.48 bps, 0.59 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Jr. (3.75 kps, .264 att%, 2.28 dps, 0.77 bps, 0.49 ace/set)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, So. (2.64 kps, .205 att%)
MB—Vera Pluharova, 6-2, Sr. (1.82 kps, .337 att%, 0.89 bps)
MB—Akor Maywin, 6-2, Jr. (1.44 kps, .380 att%, 0.89 bps)
DS—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Fr. (1.53 dps, 0.23 ace/set)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Jr. (3.48 dps, 0.49 ace/set)
 
THE SERIES...
vs CWU: UAA leads 28-21 overall, 14-10 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-1 (4/11/21 at CWU) / Streak: UAA 2
Notes: Teams have split the last eight meetings ... UAA is 19-7 vs. CWU under head coach Chris Green ... of the 26 meetings since 2008, 10 have gone 5 sets and seven have gone 4 sets, with the Seawolves winning 15 of those 17 contests ... GNAC series is tied 19-19 (since 2001) … teams have met every season since 1999 ... first meeting was a 2-1 UAA neutral-court win in 1980 ... teams did not meet between 1983-98.
 
vs NNU: UAA leads 21-19 overall, 14-6 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-1 (10/31/19 at NNU) / Streak: UAA 5
Notes: UAA has won nine of the last 10 meetings, with NNU's last victory coming in Nampa in 2017 ... UAA has won five straight in Anchorage after NNU won in the inaugural season of the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA's current 5-match winning streak is its longest against NNU ... nine of the last 11 and 19 of the last 22 matches have been 4- or 5-set affairs ... UAA is 17-8 vs. NNU under Chris Green ... UAA leads 20-18 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) … NNU won first meeting in 2000, 3-1, in Nampa.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Since starting the season 1-2, Central Washington has ripped off seven wins in eight matches, including a 3-0 record against ranked foes ... the Wildcats, whose only GNAC loss came at Seattle Pacific, are led by Ashley Kaufman (3.16 kps, .231 att%, 2.49 dps) and Marianna Payne (3.14 kps, .245 att%, 0.84 bps) ... Northwest Nazarene has struggled in the wins column despite playing well lately, suffering 5-set losses to Simon Fraser and Central Washington, and a 4-setter against Western Washington ... the Nighthawks are led by Natalie Sullivan (3.81 kps, .193 att%, 2.64 dps) and Brooke Foster (3.21 kps, .153 att%, 2.79 dps).
 
WWU MATCH POSTPONED: The Seawolves' Sept. 30 match at Western Washington was postponed last week due to COVID-19 concerns ... a make-up date will be announced.
 
THERE SHALL BE ONLY ONE: Despite playing only one match last week, the Seawolves displayed toughness on the road and became the last unbeaten team in the GNAC, beating Simon Fraser 18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-12 in Burnaby ... UAA outhit SFU .308 to .177, led by 44 assists and 4 aces from Jr. S Ellen Floyd, plus 17 kills and 10 digs from Jr. RS Eve Stephens ... So. OH Lisa Jaunet produced 14 kills on career-high-tying .500 hitting, Fr. OH Mahala Kaapuni had 13 kills on .346 hitting, and Sr. MB Vera Pluharova had 7 kills on .700 hitting and 4 total blocks as UAA improved to 19-2 all-time against SFU.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the GNAC statistics with 2.30 aces per set (15th nationally) and a .232 attack percentage (45th nationally), while ranking second with a .150 opponent attack pct. ... the Seawolves are pursuing their 14th consecutive winning season, trying to extend the program record that began with Chris Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... the Seawolves are 76-17 (.817) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 123-29 (.809) 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 20-15 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 30-42 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 gotten her fourth collegiate season off to a rousing start as the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year earned GNAC offensive player-of-the-week accolades for her performance in Hawaii, then followed 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 holds GNAC ranks of 2nd in points per set (4.65, 18th nationally), 3rd in kills per set (3.75), 3rd in aces per set (0.49) and 12th in hitting pct. (.261) ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has six double-doubles this year and 24 for her career after leading the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... with 1,234 career kills, Stephens has already risen to No. 4 on UAA's career list and needs just 14 more to catch Cheri Knox (1,248, 1987-90) for No. 3 ... on UAA's other career lists, she currently ranks 3rd in kps (3.68), 8th in attack percentage (.283), 9th in block assists (250), 13th in total blocks (266) and 15th in victories (65) ... 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 0.59 aces per set (13th nationally) and ranks 3rd with 9.85 assists per set, along with 16th in digs per set (2.95) – all while piloting an offense that has outhit its opponents .232 to .150 ... she has produced double-digit digs in 11 of 17 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 ... another season remaining, Floyd is on pace to break UAA's all-time assists and aces records, already standing 4th with 3,217 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 (9.43 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.440) and 14th in victories (67).
 
'WOLF BITES: In her fourth year as a starter, Sr. MB Vera Pluharova ranks 4th in the GNAC with her .337 attack pct. and is 16th with 0.89 blocks per set ... Pluharova ranks 6th on UAA's career list in blocks per set (1.08), plus 4th in block assists (343), 6th in total blocks (387), 11th in attack pct. (.272) and 11th in victories (74) ... the Czech got her fifth and final season started in style, hitting .394 on the Hawaii trip, producing 7-plus kills in all four matches ... in the second match against Hawaii Pacific, she broke the 20-year-old school record for attack percentage, hitting .917 (career-high-tying 11 kills, no errors, 12 attacks) to lead that sweep ... Jr. L Talia Leauanae is one of four Seawolves with three-plus years of experience in Green & Gold, and she has produced well with 3.48 digs per set (13th in GNAC) and 0.49 aces per set (t-3rd in GNAC and  55th nationally) ... the Maui native had 2 aces and 7 digs to help hold Hawaii Pacific to -.045 hitting in the Aug. 28 sweep, 14 digs and a career-high 4 aces in the win over Chaminade, and 20 digs in the sweep of MSU Billings  ... Leauanae ranks 15th on UAA's career list with 3.18 digs per set ... Jr. MB Akor Maywin is finally healthy after a pair of injury plagued seasons and producing a high level ... the Texan leads the GNAC with a .380 attack percentage after tallying consecutive career highs in kills against CSU-Pueblo (8), Cal State LA (10) and Saint Martin's (11) ... Maywin also leads the Seawolves and ranks 15th in the GNAC with 0.89 blocks per set ... So. OH Lisa Jaunet has raised her level of play in the GNAC thus far, producing 3.22 kills per set (8th in the leauge) on .328 hitting (3rd in the league) in the last five 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 15th in the overall GNAC stats with 2.64 kills per set ... Fr. OH Mahala Kaapuni has also come on strong in GNAC play, ranking 6th in attack pct. (.312) and 16th in kps (2.67) in league matches ... the Big Island product has notched at least seven kills in each GNAC contest, including season highs of 12 kills at Saint Martin's and 13 kills at Simon Fraser.
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 13 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (279-106, .725) 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 .774 clip (188-55) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .834 (116-23) 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
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
 
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
None
MISC.
Most Consecutive Wins vs Opponent — 26 vs Saint Martin's, 2008-current