SEATTLE – Eve Stephens capped a big day with a career-high 26 kills and freshman Nicole Blue delivered a kill on match point to help the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team sweep a doubleheader against longtime rival Seattle Pacific with a 25-14, 21-25, 25-14, 10-25, 16-14 victory in the second match Saturday at Brougham Pavilion.

The Seawolves (3-0) got 14 kills on .520 hitting from Stephens in Saturday's opener for a 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 sweep.

Seattle Pacific dropped to 4-3 with the losses.

"As consistent as our play was in the first match, we struggled to maintain consistency in the second one," said UAA head coach Chris Green after his team finished its third match in a 24-hour span. "Luckily we kept our composure after that rough fourth set and toughed out that win."

Although neither team made it a close set in the day's previous seven sets, the fifth set of match 2 was tight throughout, with only one two-point lead in the entire frame. Consecutive kill from Stephens and Hannah Pembroke tied it 4-4, and it remained a one-point affair for the rest of the way. SPU fought off one match point at 14-13 when Maddie Pruden smashed a kill off the Seawolf block, but teammate Lindsay Rosenthal hit the ball wide on the ensuing point. Junior setter Ellen Floyd then fed Blue on the second match point, and the freshman blasted the winner just inside the back endline.

Stephens, who also matched her career-high three aces in both matches Saturday, topped her previous career best of 23 kills (set three times) and notched the most for a Seawolf since Leah Swiss had 27 kills against Northwest Nazarene on Nov. 10, 2016. The All-American from Palmer (Colony HS) also had 13 digs – one shy of her career high – to earn her 14th career double-double and second this season.

Floyd dished 43 assists and had a team-high 18 digs, while junior libero Talia Leauanae had 13 digs.

Blue finished with 11 kills on .235 hitting, seven kills and three aces, and fellow true freshman Reilly Plumhoff made several key plays, tallying nine digs, four assists and three aces in the second match.

In the first match, UAA snapped 13-13 ties in the first and third sets, slowly pulling away in each frame for the sweep. Along with Stephens' 14 kills, the Seawolves got a balanced offensive effort behind nine kills from senior middle blocker Vera Pluharova and eight apiece from Pembroke and Blue.

UAA outhit the hosts .304 to .225 and out-aced them 11-4 in the opener, powered by Plumhoff's four aces.

The Seawolves will play host for the lone time this season when they face Alaska Fairbanks on Friday, Mar. 26 (7 p.m.) and Saturday, Mar. 27 (1 p.m.) at the Seawolf Sports Complex. There will be no fan admittance, per COVID-19 protocols.

NOTES: Stephens topped the 20-kill plateau for the eighth time in her career and increased her career kills total to 821; she needs 22 more kills to reach the top 15 on UAA's all-time list … with the two wins, UAA retook the all-time series lead against SPU at 30-29; the Seawolves have not led the series since a 3-2 advantage in 1992 … with their ninth and 10th straight wins in Seattle, UAA also took over the series lead at Brougham Pavilion, 15-14.