THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...

Sat., Apr. 10 — 9 am & 1 pm ADT — Nicholson Pavilion — Ellensburg, Wash.
Alaska Anchorage (4-1) vs Western Oregon (0-0, one match pending)
&
Sun., Apr. 11 — 9 am & 1 pm ADT —  Nicholson Pavilion — Ellensburg, Wash
Alaska Anchorage at Central Washington (0-2, one match pending)

LIVE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2RYbqOms5VEBhuLWwcKbuA
LIVE STATS: https://wildcatsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAVolleyball Twitter feed for in-match updates

NO ADMITTANCE: Due to COVID-19 protocols, there will be no fan admittance for either match.

UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2020-21 stats)
S—Ellen Floyd, 5-10, Jr. (8.60 aps, 0.80 kps, .106 att%, 2.90 dps)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Jr. (3.95 kps, .305 att%, 2.35 dps, 0.70 bps, 0.55 ace/set)
MB—Mahala Kaapuni, 5-9, Fr. (1.15 kps, .224 att%, 0.75 bps)
MB—Vera Pluharova, 6-2, Sr. (1.85 kps, .193 att%, 1.15 bps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Fr. (2.95 kps, .309 att%, 0.90 dps, 0.45 ace/set)
DS—Reilly Plumhoff, 5-5, Fr. (1.55 dps, 0.50 ace/set)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Jr. (3.15 dps, 0.65 aps)

THE SERIES vs. WOU: UAA leads 25-15 overall, 1-0 neutral
Streak: UAA 14
Last: UAA 3-0 (11/7/19 at UAA)
Notes: The Seawolves have swept seven straight season series ... WOU's last victory was a 3-0 decision, Oct. 20, 2012 in Anchorage … first and only neutral-court meeting was a 2-0 WOU win in 1981 at the Southern Oregon tournament in Ashland, Ore. ... teams have played only three 5-setters since 2006 ... UAA leads 24-14 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) and 17-7 under head coach Chris Green (since 2008) ... series started in 1981 but teams did not play again until 1999.

THE SERIES vs. CWU: UAA leads 26-21 overall
In Ellensburg: CWU leads 12-10
Streak: CWU 1
Last: CWU 3-2 (11/2/19 at CWU)
Notes: CWU has won four of the last six meetings and three straight in Ellensburg … UAA's last road win was a 3-setter in its NCAA Runner-up season of 2016 … Sunday will mark first neutral-court meeting since 1982 ... UAA is 17-7 vs. CWU under head coach Chris Green ... of the 24 meetings since 2008, 10 have gone 5 sets and five have gone 4 sets, with the Seawolves winning 13 of those 15 contests ... series tied 19-19 in GNAC meetings (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.

SCOUTING REPORT: Western Oregon is just getting its spring season started, opening with Friday evening tilt against Central Washington in Ellensburg ... Central Washington has started 0-2, losing 3-1 and 3-2 on Apr. 3 at Seattle Pacific ... the Wildcats are led so far by So. OH Analia Vasquez (2.44 kps, .126 att%, 1.22 dps.

HOMECOMING SPLIT: Although it was at their old gym at the Seawolf Sports Complex, the Seawolves played their first home matches since Nov. 2019 when they split a pair against Alaska Fairbanks on Mar. 26-27 ... in the first tilt, Fr. OH Nicole Blue delivered 10 kills on .333 hitting and Jr. RS Eve Stephens had 9 kills and 10 digs to lead a 25-10, 25-17, 25-21 romp ... Jr. S Ellen Floyd tallied 27 assists and 15 digs to help UAA outhit their rivals .231 to -.018 ... in the rematch, Stephens had 17 kills on .326 hitting and 4 block assists, but the Nanooks rebounded from a 25-5 loss in the 4th set to pull out a 15-13 win in the fifth, handing UAA its first loss of 2021 ... Blue had 14 kills on .462 hitting and 4 block assists, while Sr. MB Vera Pluharova tied her career high with 11 total blocks.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: The Seawolves have picked up three GNAC Player of the Week honors in their two weeks of play after Fr. OH Nicole Blue and Sr. MB Vera Pluharova earned the offensive and defensive awards, respectively, for their play against UAF, Mar. 26-27 ... a true freshman from Cerritos, Calif., Blue totaled 24 kills (3.00 kps) on team-best .404 hitting to help the Seawolves earn their weekend split, while Pluharova averaged 1.75 blocks per set, with her 11 total blocks on Friday matching the Seawolves' most since Nov. 2018 ... Jr. RS Eve Stephens started her third campaign in Green & Gold by earning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for her play in Washington, Mar. 19-20 ... the two-time All-GNAC performer averaged 4.42 kills per set on .321 hitting (53 kills-9 errors-137 attacks), 2.58 digs per set, 0.67 blocks per set and 0.5 aces per set in the three matches, including a pair of double-doubles ... her 3 aces in each SPU match also tied a career high, while her 26 kills in the weekend finale were the most for a Seawolf since Nov. 10, 2016 (Leah Swiss vs. NNU).

TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves are 71-16 (.816) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 117-27 (.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 39 years and seven times in 12 years under Chris Green ... the Seawolves earned their 12th straight winning season in 2019, extending the program record that began with Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... UAA also extended program-best streaks of 11 straight winning conference records and top-4 GNAC finishes ... the Seawolves are 20-14 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 30-41 overall vs. ranked opponents under Green; prior to Green's arrival, UAA had lost 32 straight to ranked foes.

ROCKIN' EVE: Jr. RS Eve Stephens followed her GNAC Freshman of the Year campaign by claiming her second straight unanimous All-GNAC award and capturing AVCA Second Team All-America honors in 2019 ... also an All-West Region selection by coaches and sports information directors, Stephens's other honors included all-tournament at the NCAA West Regional Championships, the D2 West Region Showcase and the Seawolf Invitational, and GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for Sept. 16-22 ... in the GNAC stats, the former Colony High School star led the way in kills per set (3.90) and points per set (4.62), along with ranks of 14th in blocking (0.90 bps) and 12th in attack pct. (.260) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, she finished 21st in points (6th among underclassmen) and 33rd in kills ... playing all rotations after being subbed on the back row as a freshman, Stephens recorded a team-high 12 double-doubles, averaging 2.27 dps ... on the Seawolves' single-season lists, her 425 kills ranked 8th all-time, while her 3.90 kps ranked 7th ... on UAA's career lists, the Palmer native now stands 14th in total kills (847), 4th in kps (3.57) and 7th in attack percentage (.290)  ... 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.

THE ELLEN SHOW: Jr. S Ellen Floyd engineered UAA's offensive improvement in 2019 to the reward of being tabbed First Team All-GNAC and AVCA honorable mention All-America ... in the GNAC stats, Floyd ranked 2nd with 10.14 assists per set and 5th with 0.42 aces per set, bettering her assist average to 10.65 aps in GNAC matches ... having started the year with all-tournament honors at both the Seawolf Invitational and D2 West Region Showcase, the Florida native added GNAC Offensive and AVCA Sports Imports Div. II National Player of the Week honors for her play in the wins at Western Washington and Simon Fraser ... at the midpoint of her career, Floyd is on pace to break UAA's all-time assists record, already standing 7th with 2,244 assists ... she is 4th in Seawolf history in terms of career assists average at 9.23 aps, while her 0.379 aces per set rank 5th on that list.

MORE 'WOLF BITES: Sr. MB Vera Pluharova continued her career-long improvement in 2019 and enters her fourth season as one of the top middle blockers in the West Region ... in her second year as a starter, Pluharova ranked 3rd in the GNAC and 21st nationally with 1.25 blocks per set ... the Czech recorded at least 6 kills on .300 hitting in seven matches, including 9 kills (.438) in the road sweep of Concordia and a career-high 11 kills (.474) in the 5-set win over UAF ... Pluharova ranks 4th on UAA's career list in blocks per set (1.16), plus 8th in block assists (268) and 12th in total blocks (298; needs nine more to reach top 10) ... So. OH Hannah Pembroke was UAA's 4th-leading kills producer with 1.55 kps as a true freshman in 2019 ... Pembroke made huge strides during the second half of her rookie campaign, improving her numbers to 1.76 kps on .193 hitting in league matches ...  the Seawolves are well stocked at the libero and DS positions again in 2020-21, with Jr. Talia Leauanae joined by redshirt freshmen and local products Reilly Plumhoff and Julia Fetko ... Leauanae ranked 12th in the GNAC with 3.68 digs per set in 2019, with efforts of 28 digs (career high) in the loss to Simon Fraser, 17 digs in the home upset of Western Washington, 24 in the win over UAF and 21 in the road win at NNU.

GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 11 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (260-98, .726) 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 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 two NCAAs ... UAA has won at a .782 clip (165-46) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .828 (111-23) 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.

2020-21 INDIVIDUAL HONORS
NICOLE BLUE
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Mar. 22-28
ELLEN FLOYD
GNAC All-Academic Team
TALIA LEAUANAE
GNAC All-Academic Team
HANNAH PEMBROKE
GNAC All-Academic Team
VERA PLUHAROVA
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Mar. 22-28
GNAC All-Academic Team
EVE STEPHENS
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Mar. 15-21
GNAC All-Academic Team