THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Nov. 18 – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska – 7 pm AST
Western Oregon (4-19, 2-14 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (17-11, 10-6 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Nov. 20 –  Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska – 7 pm AST
Saint Martin's (10-16, 3-13 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Free at youtube.com/c/UAASeawolves
 
LIVE STATS: goseawolves.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. (10.04 aps, 0.86 kps, .114 att%, 3.00 dps, 0.55 bps, 0.48 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Jr. (3.85 kps, .257 att%, 2.38 dps, 0.79 bps, 0.40 ace/set)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, So. (2.47 kps, .188 att%)
MB—Vera Pluharova, 6-2, Sr. (1.85 kps, .324 att%, 1.08 bps)
MB—Akor Maywin, 6-2, Jr. (1.27 kps, .288 att%, 0.96 bps)
DS—Reilly Plumhoff, 5-5, Fr. (1.92 dps, 0.55 aps, 0.22 ace/set)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Jr. (3.74 dps, 0.47 ace/set, 0.58 aps)
 
THE END IS NEAR: Ranked No. 8 in the NCAA Div. II West Region poll of Nov. 9 (new rankings announced Nov. 16), the Seawolves face must-win matches in the regular-season finales this week against Western Oregon and Saint Martin's ... the top eight teams in the region make the NCAA West Regional Championships, with the playoff field announced Monday, Nov. 22 at 3:30 pm AST ... Saturday's match will be the final home appearance for Sr. MB Vera Pluharova, who will be honored in prematch ceremonies.
 
THE SERIES...
vs WOU: UAA leads 27-15 overall, 13-7 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-0 (9/18/21 at WOU) / Streak: UAA 16
Notes: The Seawolves are seeking their seventh straight season sweep ... UAA has six straight season series ... UAA has won the last three meetings in straight sets ... UAA has won seven straight in Anchorage, including all six meetings at the Alaska Airlines Center ... WOU's last win was Oct. 20, 2012 at the UAA Sports Complex ... UAA leads 25-14 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) and 18-7 under head coach Chris Green (since 2008) ... series started in 1981 but teams did not play again until 1999.
 
vs SMU: UAA leads 38-4 overall, 18-1 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-2 (9/16/21 at WOU) / Streak: UAA 26
Notes: UAA's 26-match win streak is the longest in program history against any opponent, though six of the last seven meetings have gone four or five sets ... the Sept. 16 contest in Lacey was the first 5-setter in 42 matches of series history ... the Seawolves have won 78 of 87 sets during the streak, which started in 2008 ... UAA has won 12 straight at home, including a 6-0 mark at the Alaska Airlines Center ... SMU swept the 2007 series with a pair of 3-0 wins ... UAA leads 35-4 in GNAC matches and 26-0 under Chris Green ... teams played first two matches as Pac West Conference opponents in 1998 and 1999.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Western Oregon earned its second GNAC victory with a 3-1 home victory over Northwest Nazarene, to go with an Oct. 28 upset of Seattle Pacific ... hunting their first road win in nine tries, the Wolves are led by Isabel Hurliman (2.95 kps, .185 att%, 2.83 dps) and Bailee Hartsook (2.70 kps, .144 att%, 1.31 dps) ... despite heading to Fairbanks with a 5-match losing skid, Saint Martin's is still enjoying one of its better campaigns, including a school-record 5-0 start and GNAC victories over WOU (twice) and MSU Billings ... the Saints are led by Tia Allen (2.93 kps, .119 att%, 2.65 dps) and Emily Gooding (2.68 kps, .158 att%, 1.31 dps).
 
NO LUCK UP NORTH: The Seawolves finished a four-match road swing with their third straight defeat Saturday, falling 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 26-24 to Alaska Fairbanks at the Patty Center ... Jr. RS Eve Stephens tallied her 11th double-double of the season with 14 kills, 13 digs, 6 total blocks and 4 aces, but UAA could not take advantage of two tries at set point in the 4th set ... Jr. S Ellen Floyd had 40 assists, 4 kills and tied the UAA career record with a pair of aces, while Jr. MB Akor Maywin tied her career high with 7 total blocks for the second straight match.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the GNAC statistics with 2.04 aces per set (29th nationally) and rank second in attack pct. (.216) and opponent attack pct. (.161) ... the Seawolves have secured their 14th consecutive winning season, extending the program record that began with Chris Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... the Seawolves' 14-match GNAC winning streak (11/7/19 to 10/16/21) was 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 were UAA's most since going on 11- and 8-match win streaks in the 2016 NCAA runner-up season ...  the Seawolves are 79-19 (.806) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 126-31 (.803) at home since 2009; UAA has never lost three straight 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 has extended another program-best streak with its 12th straight winning conference record and is aiming for its 12th straight and top-4 GNAC finish ... the Seawolves are 21-17 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 31-44 overall vs. ranked opponents under Green; prior to Green's arrival, UAA had lost 32 straight to ranked foes.
 
STEPHENS ON POINT: In her fourth season in Green & Gold, Jr. RS Eve Stephens has continued to rack up numbers at a record-setting pace ... the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year has earned 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 4.66 points per set (13th nationally), along with ranks of 2nd in kills per set (3.85, 26th nationally), 5th in aces per set (0.40) and 12th in hitting pct. (.257) ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has 11 double-doubles this year and 29 for her career after leading the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... with 1,390 career kills, Stephens needs just two more to catch Katelynn Zanders (1,392, 2012-15) for No. 2 on the Seawolves' all-time list ... on UAA's other career lists, she ranks 3rd in kps (3.72), 8th in attack percentage (.279), 8th in block assists (280), 13th in total blocks (298) and 15th in victories (70) ... a star in the classroom as well, the accounting major was voted CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 in 2019 and earned her third straight Academic All-GNAC honor this year, producing a 3.67 overall GPA.
 
THINK FLOYD: Another preseason All-GNAC pick, Jr. S Ellen Floyd started the season with 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 0.48 aces per set and ranks 3rd with 10.04 assists per set ... she is also second on the team and 16th in the league with 3.00 digs per set – all while piloting an offense that has outhit its opponents .216 to .161 ... she has produced double-digit digs in 17 of 28 outings, tying career highs recently with 7 kills at NNU and 21 digs at WWU; she also had 52 assists and 19 digs in the win over regionally ranked Biola ... with another season remaining, Floyd has already tied UAA's career aces record (162, Jen Szczerbinski, 1988-92) and is on pace to break the all-time assists mark, already standing 4th with 3,620 assists ... her other career ranks stand at 3rd in assists average (9.53 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.426) and 13th in victories (72) ... a candidate for CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, Floyd also earned her third straight GNAC All-Academic nod this year with a UAA-best 3.86 overall GPA in accounting.
 
'WOLF BITES: Following her GNAC Defensive Player of the Week performance against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, Sr. MB Vera Pluharova has continued her fine play by tallying 9 kills on .571 hitting against UAF, tying her career high with 9 block assists at SPU, and tying another career best with 11 kills on .474 hitting at MSUB ... the 4-year starter ranks 4th in the GNAC with a .324 attack pct. and is 8th with 1.08 blocks per set ... Pluharova ranks 5th on UAA's career list in blocks per set (1.11), plus 2nd in block assists (392), 4th in total blocks (441, needs four to tie for 3rd), 9th in attack pct. (.276) and 9th in victories (78) ... 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 3.74 digs per set (10th in GNAC) 0.47 aces per set (2nd in GNAC behind Floyd) ... the Maui native has six matches with 20-plus digs this year, with her 25 at MSUB and against WWU currently tied for the most in any GNAC 3-set match this year ... Leauanae recently joined UAA's 1,000-digs club, now with career ranks of 11th in digs per set (3.30) and 14th in digs (1,004) ... So. OH Lisa Jaunet has raised her level of play since the start of GNAC play, producing 2.53 kills per set on .220 hitting in 16 league 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 20th in the overall GNAC stats with 2.47 kills per set ... Fr. OH Mahala Kaapuni has notched at least six kills in 15 of 16 GNAC contests, including season highs of 12 at Saint Martin's and 13 at Simon Fraser.
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 14 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (284-112, .717) 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 .760 clip (193-61) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .807 (121-29) 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
MAKANA ELENEKI
GNAC All-Academic Team
ELLEN FLOYD
GNAC All-Academic Team
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Aug. 23-29
Preseason All-GNAC Team
CEYNA KAHRAMA
GNAC All-Academic Team
TALIA LEAUANAE
GNAC All-Academic Team
VERA PLUHAROVA
GNAC All-Academic Team
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Oct. 4-10
REILLY PLUMHOFF
GNAC All-Academic Team
EVE STEPHENS
GNAC All-Academic Team
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
 
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)
Career
Most Aces — 162 by Ellen Floyd, 2018-current (ties record set by Jen Szczerbinski, 1988-90, '92)
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
Most Consecutive Winning Seasons — 14 (extends record)
Most Consecutive Winning Conference Seasons — 12 (extends record)