ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Apr. 11) – Juniors Eve Stephens and Talia Leauanae posted career-best defensive efforts and Stephens totaled 43 kills in two matches Sunday as the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team earned a pair of four-set victories over Central Washington at Nicholson Pavilion.

In the second match, Stephens finished with 21 kills and a career-high 17 digs, and Leauanae's 32 digs were the most for a Seawolf since 2017 as UAA won 31-29, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18. The doubleheader sweep improved the Seawolves to 7-1 at the midpoint of their spring season.

The Wildcats (1-4) were led by 11 kills from Analia Sanchez and 31 digs from libero Hannah Stires in the second match.

"We struggled with passing and serving today, so our offense was sporadic. Fortunately we were able to make the right adjustments and I thought we played our best volleyball of the year during the second half of the first match," said UAA head coach Chris Green. "Central continued to give us trouble with their big block in the second match, but we got just an outstanding back-row performance from Talia, and Ellen (Floyd) had probably her best match of the year offensively. Everyone else also came through with big plays to get that win."

The first set of the nightcap was a classic, with UAA repelling five set points before finally prevailing. Freshman Nicole Blue had a pair of her 14 kills to fend off two set points, and sophomore Hannah Pembroke finished UAA's three-point run with a kill to clinch the frame.

The second set was tight as well, with back-to-back kills from Blue and Stephens staking the Seawolves to a 23-22 lead. After a kill by Central's Kylie Thorne, Stephens ripped a kill to make it 24-23, and UAA went up 2-0 when Wildcat attacker MacKenzy Borek sailed her attempt out of bounds.

After dropping the third set, UAA rebounded with a .279 to .028 hitting advantage to close out the win in the fourth.

Floyd finished with a season-high 49 assists, 13 digs, three kills, two aces and five block assists, while Pembroke and senior middle blocker Vera Pluharova had eight kills apiece.

Stephens' 21 kills in the second match marked her 10th career 20-kill effort, while her 17 digs were four more than her previous high. The All-American from Palmer's Colony High school pushed her career total to 902 kills, moving into 13th place on that UAA all-time list.

MATCH 1 RECAP:
Eve Stephens blasted 22 kills on .348 hitting and Ellen Floyd tallied 44 assists and 16 digs to power the Seawolves to a 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14 win, helping UAA prevail despite losing the first set for the first time this season.

Central Washington was led by 10 kills from Leanna Shymanski.

The second set wound up being the key frame, with UAA pulling out the win to tie the match. Nicole Blue delivered a kill and Floyd served an ace to give UAA a 23-21 lead, and after Central responded with the next two points, the hosts committed a service error and a ball-handling error to end it.

The Seawolves outhit the Wildcats .317 to .056 in the third and .536 to .185 in the fourth to pull away for their first road over Central in Ellensburg since their NCAA Runner-up season of 2016.

Talia Leauanae had 16 digs, while Blue and Hannah Pembroke notched eight kills apiece, and junior middle blocker Akor Maywin slammed six kills on just eight attacks.