HONOLULU – Alaska Anchorage's Eve Stephens blasted 22 kills and made 15 digs but host Chaminade made enough big plays when it counted to earn a 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 25-23 volleyball victory Saturday at McCabe Gymnasium.

The visiting Seawolves (2-1) also got 42 assists, five kills and 16 digs from junior setter Ellen Floyd as they fell despite outhitting their opponents .192 to .167.

The Silverswords (2-0) were led by 12 kills from outside hitter Brooklen Pe'a and eight kills on .412 hitting and four blocks from Lataisia Saulala in the battle between teams picked No. 2 in their respective conference's preseason polls.

"We had our chances but couldn't take advantage of our opportunities, especially late in sets," said UAA head coach Chris Green, whose team faces a noon ADT Sunday rematch with Chaminade to end its opening series in the 50th State. "Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and give a better effort tomorrow. We need to win the serve/pass battle to have success."

After using a late 12-2 run to win the second set and tie the match, the Seawolves had an opportunity to go ahead with a set point at 24-23 in the third. Chaminade's Greta Corti came through with a tying kill, however, and the Silverswords used a Tate Lulu ace and a Seawolf attack error to claim the frame.

The Seawolves overcame an early 8-2 deficit to make the fourth set another nail-biter, with junior outside hitter Lisa Jaunet delivering one of her 10 kills to forge a 20-20 tie. Two straight UAA errors gave the Silverswords a 23-21 edge, and Pe'a earned a kill to make it 24-22. After Mahala Kaapuni and Akor Maywin teamed to block Chaminade's Marcelle Butler, the hosts clinched the win on a kill by Saulala.

UAA was hurt in the serving game throughout the night, with a 6-to-14 aces-to-service errors ratio, while Chaminade served 10 aces with just seven errors.

Stephens hit .347 and tied her career high with three aces as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year recorded her first double-double of 2021 and the 19th of her career. UAA also got another nice showing from senior middle blocker Vera Pluharova, who had eight kills on .467 hitting and five block assists. Pluharova was coming off a school-record .917 attack percentage in Saturday's earlier UAA victory across town against Hawaii Pacific.

Junior libero Talia Leauanae led UAA with a team season-high 18 digs.

Following their Hawaii trip, UAA returns home to host the Seawolf Invitational Sept. 2-4 at the Alaska Airlines Center. The Seawolves start off against another Pacific West Conference club, Biola, on Thursday at 7 p.m. For tickets, surf to GoSeawolves.com.