THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Sept. 30 – Carver Gymnasium – Bellingham, Wash. – 6 pm ADT – **POSTPONED**
Alaska Anchorage (11-5, 4-0 GNAC) at #20 Western Washington (6-4, 2-1 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Oct. 2 – SFU West Gymnasium – Burnaby, B.C. – 6 pm ADT
Alaska Anchorage at Simon Fraser (7-3, 1-2 GNAC [9/30 vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Free on YouTube ... find links at the UAA Volleyball schedule page at https://goseawolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule
 
LIVE STATS: Thursday at wwuvikings.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary (Postponed)
                       Saturday at athletics.sfu.ca/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. (9.77 aps, 0.84 kps, .122 att%, 3.05 dps, 0.47 bps, 0.56 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Jr. (3.72 kps, .265 att%, 2.26 dps, 0.81 bps, 0.53 ace/set)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, So. (2.58 kps, .187 att%)
MB—Vera Pluharova, 6-2, Sr. (1.82 kps, .322 att%, 0.88 bps)
MB—Akor Maywin, 6-2, Jr. (1.44 kps, .380 att%, 0.89 bps)
DS—Reilly Plumhoff, 5-5, Fr. (2.12 dps, 0.60 aps)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Jr. (3.51 dps, 0.53 ace/set)
 
THE SERIES...
vs WWU: WWU leads 36-19 overall, 14-7 in Bellingham
Last: UAA 3-2 (11/14/19 at WWU) / Streak: UAA 2
Notes: UAA swept the 2019 season series for the first time since 2011 and just the third time since the GNAC started in 2001 ... the 2019 wins snapped a 5-match losing skid against WWU ... the last eight matches have all gone four or five sets, including UAA's NCAA Regional finals victory in 2016 and WWU's NCAA First Round victory in 2017 ... there have been six 5-setters and only one sweep among the last 16 meetings ... the road team has won 12 of the last 18 meetings ... the Seawolves are 12-15 against WWU under Chris Green (since 2008) ... WWU won 17 straight from 2001-08 … WWU leads 27-11 in GNAC meetings … teams have met every year since 2000 …  series started in 1980.
 
vs SFU: UAA leads 18-2 overall, 9-1 in Burnaby
Last: UAA 3-1 (11/16/19 at SFU) / Streak: UAA 1
Notes: SFU has won two of the last five meetings after UAA won the first 15 matches in series history ... teams split the 2019 series series, with each team winning on the road ... three of the last seven meetings have gone five sets ... SFU joined the GNAC in 2010.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Defending GNAC champion and preseason coaches' poll favorite Western Washington is off to a 6-4 start, playing a tough schedule that has featured five ranked opponents (2-3 record) and seven total teams that have appeared in the AVCA national top 25 at some point this season ... the 20th-ranked Vikings are led by So. OH Calley Heilborn (3.07 kps, .165 att%, 3.93 dps, 0.60 bps) and So. S Malia Aleaga (10.38 aps, 1.71 dps) ... after not playing at all last year, Simon Fraser has done well against an extremely challenging schedule, including wins over nationally ranked Cal State San Bernardino and St. Cloud State ... the NCAA's lone Canadian program is led the early GNAC freshman-of-the-year candidate Brooke Dexter (GNAC-high 4.24 kps, .314 att%, 2.68 dps) and Sr. S Julia Tays (GNAC-high 10.57 aps, 2.93 dps).
 
BACK ON TRACK: After suffering their first three-match losing streak since 2013, the Seawolves have bounced back with four straight wins to start Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, including the last three by sweep ... last week, UAA dominated Montana State Billings (25-20, 25-20, 25-14) and Seattle Pacific (25-20, 25-20, 25-12) in the first GNAC matches at the Alaska Airlines Center in 22 months ... against Billings, Jr. RS Eve Stephens blasted 14 kills and had 4 aces, while Jr. S Ellen Floyd delivered 29 assists, 4 aces and 10 digs ... Jr. L Talia Leauanae's 20 digs were the most in a 3-setter for UAA this year as the Seawolves beat the Yellowjackets for the 20th time in the last 21 meetings ... against SPU, Floyd had 28 assists to lead a .357 hitting performance and So. OH Lisa Jaunet delivered 10 kills on career-best .500 hitting ... Leauanae led the way with 12 digs and Stephens and Fr. OH Mahala Kaapuni had 7 kills apiece as UAA beat SPU for the 16th time in 17 meetings.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the early GNAC statistics with 2.32 aces per set (16th nationally) and a .227 attack percentage, while rankings third with a .148 opponent attack pct. ... the Seawolves are pursuing their 14th consecutive winning season, trying to extend the program record that began with Chris Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... the Seawolves are 76-17 (.817) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 123-29 (.809) 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 its 39 full seasons and seven times in 12 full seasons under Green ... UAA is also trying to extend program-best streaks of 11 straight winning conference records and top-4 GNAC finishes ... the Seawolves are 20-15 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 30-42 overall vs. ranked opponents under Green; prior to Green's arrival, UAA had lost 32 straight to ranked foes.
 
EVE OF DESTRUCTION: Jr. RS Eve Stephens has gotten her fourth collegiate season off to a rousing start as the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year earned GNAC offensive player-of-the-week accolades for her performance in Hawaii, then followed 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 has hit .265 (10th in the GNAC) and ranks 2nd in points (4.67) and 3rd in kills (3.72) per set, and tied for 2nd in aces per set (0.53) ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has five double-doubles this year and 23 for her career after leading the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... with 1,217 career kills, Stephens has already risen to No. 4 on UAA's career list, and she needs 31 more to catch Cheri Knox (1,248, 1987-90) for No. 3 ... on UAA's other career lists, she currently ranks 3rd in kps (3.68), 8th in attack percentage (.284), 9th in block assists (249), 13th in total blocks (265) and 15th in victories (64) ... 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.
 
THINK FLOYD: Another preseason All-GNAC pick, Jr. S Ellen Floyd captured 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 0.56 aces per set and ranks 3rd with 9.77 assists per set, along with 16th in digs per set (3.05) – all while piloting an offense that has outhit its opponents .227 to .148 ... she has produced double-digit digs in 11 of 16 outings, finishing with 17 digs and tying her career high with 7 kills in the win Chaminade, and tallying 52 assists and 19 digs in the win over Biola ... with 1.5 seasons remaining, Floyd is on pace to break UAA's all-time assists and aces records, already standing 4th with 3,173 assists and 2nd with 146 aces (needs 16 to tie Jen Szczerbinski, 162 aces, 1988-92) ... her other career ranks stand at 3rd in assists average (9.42 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.433) and 14th in victories (66).
 
'WOLF BITES: Sr. MB Vera Pluharova got her fifth and final season started in style, hitting a team-high .394 on the Hawaii trip, producing 7-plus kills in all four matches ... in the second match against Hawaii Pacific, she broke the 20-year-old school record for attack percentage, hitting .917 (career-high-tying 11 kills, no errors, 12 attacks) to lead that sweep ... in her fourth year as a starter, Pluharova ranks 4th in the GNAC with her .322 attack pct. and is 16th with 0.88 bps ... Pluharova ranks 6th on UAA's career list in blocks per set (1.08), plus 4th in block assists (340), 7th in total blocks (383, needs one to tie for 6th), 11th in attack pct. (.268) and tied for 11th in victories (73) ... Jr. L Talia Leauanae is one of four Seawolves with three-plus years of experience in Green & Gold, and she has started 2021 well with 3.51 digs per set (13th in GNAC) and 0.53 aces per set (2nd in GNAC and  37th nationally) ... the Maui native had 2 aces and 7 digs to help hold Hawaii Pacific to -.045 hitting in the Aug. 28 sweep, 14 digs and a career-high 4 aces in the win over Chaminade, and 20 digs in the sweep of MSU Billings  ... Leauanae ranks 15th on UAA's career list with 3.18 digs per set ... Jr. MB Akor Maywin is finally healthy after a pair of injury plagued seasons and producing a high level ... the Texan leads the GNAC with a .380 attack percentage after producing career highs in kills in three of the last seven matches (8 vs CSU-Pueblo, 10 vs CSULA, 11 at Saint Martin's) ... Maywin also leads the Seawolves and ranks 14th in the GNAC with 0.89 blocks per set ... So. OH Lisa Jaunet has raised her level of play in the GNAC thus far, producing 3.14 kills per set on .291 hitting in four league matches ... the St. Denis, France, native and State College of Florida transfer had her second-most kills (15) against Saint Martin's and consecutive career-bests of .476 at Western Oregon and .500 against Seattle Pacific ... Jaunet ranks 18th in the GNAC with 2.58 kills per set.
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 13 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (278-106, .724) 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 .773 clip (187-55) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .833 (115-23) 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.
 
2021 Individual Honors
ELLEN FLOYD
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Aug. 23-29
Preseason All-GNAC Team
EVE STEPHENS
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)
TEAM
None
MISC.
Most Consecutive Wins vs Opponent — 26 vs Saint Martin's, 2008-current