THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thur., Oct. 20 – 6 pm ADT – SFU West Gymnasium – Burnaby, B.C.
#9 Alaska Anchorage (21-1, 11-0 GNAC) at Simon Fraser (7-12, 4-6)
&
Sat., Oct. 22 – 6 pm ADT – Carver Gymnasium – Bellingham, Wash.
#9 Alaska Anchorage at #10 Western Washington (14-4, 9-1 GNAC [Thu. vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Thursday at youtube.com/watch?v=npu4ncTpkuw ... Saturday at youtube.com/WWUVikingsAthletics ... links also available at GoSeawolves.com.
 
LIVE STATS: Thursday at athletics.sfu.ca/sidearmstats/wvball
                       Saturday at wwuvikings.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAVolleyball Twitter feed for in-match updates
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2022 stats)
S—Ellen Floyd, 5-10, Sr. (10.23 aps, .234 att%, 2.68 dps, 0.49 bps, 0.44 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Sr. (4.47 kps, .367 att%, 2.55 dps, 0.83 bps, 0.60 ace/set)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, Sr. (3.03 kps, .266 att%)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, So. (2.01 kps, .234 att%, 1.04 dps, 0.40 bps)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, So. (1.19 kps, .294 att%, 1.06 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, So. (1.32 kps, .290 att%, 0.93 bps)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Sr. (3.76 dps, 0.41 ace/set, 0.61 aps)
 
GNAC SECOND HALF STARTS AT HOME: Ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Div. II national poll and riding a 13-match win streak, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team faces a pair of key road showdowns on its quest for its first GNAC title since 2016 ... on Thursday, the Seawolves face upset-minded Simon Fraser in Burnaby, British Columbia, while on Saturday they travel to Bellingham, Wash., for a top-10 showdown against 10th-ranked and four-time defending GNAC champion Western Washington.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Picked fourth in the GNAC preseason poll, Simon Fraser has dropped six of its last eight to fall out of contention for a playoff berth ... currently seventh in the GNAC standings, the Red Leafs are led by Brooke Dexter (2.89 kps, .295 att%, 1.71 dps, 0.52 bps) and Jocelyn Sherman (2.49 kps, .186 att%, 2.25 dps) ... ranked 10th in this week's D-II poll, Western Washington has ripped off six straight wins following its 3-0 loss in Anchorage on Sept. 22 ... the Vikings – whose other three losses all came against top-10 ranked teams – are led by Calley Heilborn (2.64 kps, .204 att%, 3.25 dps, 0.66 bps), Chloe Roetcisoender (2.55 kps, .358 att%, 1.27 bps) and Malia Aleaga (10.15 aps, 2.07 dps, 0.49 bps).
 
THE SERIES...
vs SFU: UAA leads 20-3 overall, 10-1 in Burnaby
Streak: UAA 1
Last: UAA 3-1 (9/24/22 at UAA)
Notes: The visiting team had won the four straight matches until UAA's Sept. 24 win in Anchorage ... the Seawolves won 3-1 last year in Burnaby ... UAA won the first 15 matches in series history ... eight of the last 10 meetings have gone four or five sets ... SFU joined the GNAC in 2010.
 
vs WWU: WWU leads 38-20 overall, 15-7 in Bellingham
Streak: UAA 1
Last: UAA 3-0 (9/22/22 at UAA)
Notes: WWU has won seven of the last 10 meetings, including 3-1 last year in Bellingham ... UAA's 3-0 win Sept. 22 in Anchorage marked its first sweep of WWU since 2015 and just the third in 41 matches as GNAC foes ... nine of the last 11 matches have 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 three sweeps among the last 19 meetings ... the road team has won 13 of the last 21 meetings ... the Seawolves are 13-17 against WWU under Chris Green (since 2008) and 12-29 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) ... WWU won 17 straight from 2001-08 … teams have met every year since 2000 … series started in 1980.
 
STROLLIN' THE POLLS: The Seawolves remained in the AVCA Div. II Top 25 poll for the eighth straight week, staying at No. 9 in Monday's poll ... the Oct. 3 poll marked UAA's first time in the top 10 since starting the 2017 campaign at No. 4 ... UAA is one of two GNAC teams in the rankings, along with No. 10 Western Washington, while Central Washington and non-conference foe Chaminade are among teams receiving votes.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Seawolves stayed unbeaten in 11 GNAC matches and improved to 10-0 at home with wins over fellow Seattle Pacific and Montana State Billings last week ... on Thursday, Sr. RS Eve Stephens had 13 kills on .565 hitting and 3 aces to pace a 25-18, 25-15, 25-13 blowout of the Falcons ... Sr. S Ellen Floyd had 24 assists, 5 kills, 11 digs and a season-high 5 total blocks, while So. MB Isabel Evans equaled her career high with 7 block assists as the Seawolves swept the lone GNAC team to take them to five sets thus far ... on Saturday, Stephens had 13 kills on .429 hitting and Sr. OH Lisa Jaunet added 11 kills as UAA outhit last-place MSUB .330 to -.012 in a 25-16, 25-7, 25-19 sweep ... Floyd tallied 6 kills on .750 hitting, 30 assists and 5 aces to help the Seawolves top the 'Jackets for the eighth straight time.
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves' .288 team attack percentage ranks sixth in the nation, along with top-50 ranks in aces per set (11th, 2.36), opponent attack pct. (31st, .140), blocks per set (32nd, 2.24) and assists per set (12.16) ... UAA leads the GNAC in attack percentage, opponent attack percentage and aces per set, and ranks second in assists and kills (13.11) per set ... at 21-1, UAA has equaled the 2016 NCAA Runner-up team for the best 22-match record in program history; a win at Simon Fraser would give UAA its best-ever record this deep into a season and equal the second-longest overall win streak in program history (14, Sept. 3-Oct. 3, 2015) ... the Seawolves are also aiming to equal their most consecutive GNAC victories in one season (12 in 2009) and their second-longest GNAC streak spanning seasons (14, Oct. 17, 2015-Oct. 20, 2016) ... UAA has held three opponents to negative hitting percentages this year, with the -.022 allowed vs. WOU ranking as the third-lowest in 20 years of GNAC play ... UAA's .488 attack pct. against Emmanuel and the .427 mark against Lubbock Christian rank as the program's 2nd- and 5th-best hitting percentages since the rally-scoring era began in 2001 ... the Seawolves have already claimed their 15th consecutive winning season, extending the program record that began with Chris Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... UAA has also attained its 13th straight winning conference record and is closing in on a 13th straight top-4 GNAC finish ... the Seawolves are 91-19 (.827) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 138-31 (.817) at home since 2009; UAA has never lost three straight matches at the Alaska Airlines Center ... the Seawolves are 24-18 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 33-45 overall against ranked opponents under Green; prior to Green's arrival, UAA had lost 32 straight to ranked foes.
 
EVE OF DESTRUCTION: A three-time unanimous All-GNAC performer and two-time AVCA Second Team All-American, Sr. RS Eve Stephens continues to increase her record-setting numbers, now standing as the GNAC and UAA all-time leader in both points (2,102) and kills (1,762) ... the active career kills leader in NCAA Div. II, Stephens was named the AVCA National Player of the Week for her MVP effort at the Ice Block Classic in Fairbanks, while her five GNAC player-of-the-week honors have boosted her to a GNAC-record 12 for her career ... after producing 26 kills on .490 hitting last week, she holds national ranks of 2nd in points per set (5.55), 6th in kills per set (4.47) and 15th in aces per set (0.60), making her the only D-II player in the top 25 in all three categories ... in the GNAC stats, she leads in points, kills and aces per set, along with ranks of 2nd in attack pct. (.367, 34th nationally) and 14th in blocks per set (0.83) ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has nine double-doubles this year and 36 for her career, having led the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... Stephens also holds UAA program career ranks of 2nd in kills per set (3.84), 5th in attack pct. (.294), 4th in aces (138), 5th in block assists (339), 9th in total blocks (368) and 6th in victories (93) ... a star in the classroom as well, she is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 and 2021 Third Team Academic All-America honoree.
 
PLAY SOME FLOYD: A two-time All-GNAC selection and 2019 AVCA honorable mention All-American, Sr. S Ellen Floyd has led UAA to the sixth-best team attack percentage (.288) in NCAA Div. II thus far, while ranking 38th individually with 10.23 assists per set ... the co-MVP of the Seawolf Invitational in August, she holds GNAC ranks of 2nd in assists per set, 4th in aces per set (0.44) and 16th in digs per set (2.68, the most among GNAC setters) ... having already broken the UAA career record for assists (4,491) and the UAA and GNAC career marks for aces (200), Floyd would have to average 41.3 assists per match through the last seven contests to break the GNAC assists record of 4,780 by the end of the regular season ... the Florida native has produced at least 30 assists in 14 of 22 matches this year, helping UAA hit at least .225 in 18 of 22 contests ... Floyd's 64 assists against Florida Southern were the most by a Seawolf since 2004, and she has produced double-digit digs in nine matches ... the NCAA's active career aces leader (200), Floyd holds current UAA ranks of 1st in assists and aces, 3rd in assists average (9.66 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.43), 6th in digs (1,222) and 5th in victories (95) ... with a 3.86 GPA in accounting, Floyd earned her third straight GNAC All-Academic nod last year and joined Eve Stephens to give UAA two of the eight selections to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 Team.
 
SENIOR STRENGTH: One of three Seawolves in her fifth year in Green & Gold, Sr. L Talia Leauanae is producing her finest campaign to date ... the Hawaiian has posted double-digit digs in 17 of 22 matches, including a UAA season-high 25 against Florida Southern and 22 in the sweep of Black Hills State ... she also delivered 4 aces with no service errors  in wins over both Point Loma and Arkansas-Fort Smith ... Leauanae holds GNAC ranks of 5th in digs per set (3.76) and 7th in aces per set (0.41) ... on UAA's career lists, she stands 4th in total digs (1,320, most by a Seawolf in the rally scoring era), 11th in digs per set (3.39), 14th in aces (109) and 19th in aces per set (0.28)... a former JC transfer, Sr. OH Lisa Jaunet appears twice as comfortable in her second season in Green & Gold ... the St. Denis, France, native has had at least six kills in each match and double figures in 10 contests, including a career-high 25 to lead the comeback win over Point Loma ... in the GNAC stats, Jaunet ranks 6th in kills per set (3.03), 12th in points per set (3.15) and 13th in attack pct. (.266), while she is 16th on UAA's career list for kills per set 2.70.
 
MORE 'WOLF BITES: Third-year sophomore OH Nicole Blue has also shown marked improvement from her 2021 production, ripping at least five kills in 20 of 22 matches and hitting at least .300 on eight occasions ... the Southern Californian helped spark the comeback against Point Loma with 13 kills on .313 hitting, and she had a combined 16 kills on .469 hitting in the road wins at MSUB and SPU ... Blue ranks 20th in the GNAC with her .234 attack pct. ... So. MB Leilani Elder has tallied four or more kills in 13 or her last 15 appearances and multiple blocks in 16 of 18 overall outings, topping out with career highs of 8 kills and 10.5 points at Northwest Nazarene ... the Kansas City native is hitting .320 over the last seven matches and currently ranks 9th in the GNAC with 0.93 blocks per set ... Jr. MB Isabel Evans has risen to 6th in the GNAC with 1.06 blocks per set after posting a career-high 7 block assists at Central Washington and against Seattle Pacific recently ... So. DS Reilly Plumhoff has registered eight aces over the last three matches, giving her nine multi-ace performance this year ... the Dimond HS product ranks 9th in the league with 0.39 aces per set ... So. DS Makana Eleneki has excelled in her role as a serving specialist this year, posting team bests in ace-to-error ratio (20 aces, 9 errors) and serve percentage (.959).
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having now led UAA to an unprecedented 15 straight winning seasons and with more than 750 combined victories at the JC and D-II levels, UAA head coach Chris Green (307-114, .729) has established himself as the most successful coach in program history and one of the top mentors in the NCAA Div. II ranks, earning five GNAC Coach of the Year awards ('09, '13, '15, '16, '19) ... 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 10 of the last 12 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 .774 clip (216-63) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .822 (134-29) in league play ... Green's UAA teams have produced nine 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.
 
2022 Individual Honors
ELLEN FLOYD
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Oct. 3-9
Seawolf Invitational co-Most Outstanding Player
Preseason All-GNAC Team
LISA JAUNET
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
EVE STEPHENS
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Oct. 3-9
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 19-25
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 12-18
AVCA D-II National Player of the Week, Aug. 30-Sept. 5
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Aug. 29-Sept. 4
Ice Block Classic MVP
Seawolf Invitational co-Most Outstanding Player
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Aug. 15-21
Preseason All-GNAC Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2022
INDIVIDUAL
Career
Most Points — 2,102 by Eve Stephens, 2018-current (old record: 1,973 by Jen Szczerbinski, 1988-90, 1992)
Most Kills — 1,762 by Eve Stephens, 2018-current (old record: 1,691 by Jen Szczerbinski, 1988-90, 1992)
Most Assists — 4,491 by Ellen Floyd, 2018-current (old record: 3,920 by Morgan Hooe, 2013-16)
Most Aces — 200 by Ellen Floyd, 2018-current (extends record set in 2021)
TEAM
Match
Highest Attack Pct. vs. Non-Conference Opponent, Rally-Scoring Era (since 2001) — .488 (46-4-86) vs Emmanuel, Ga., 8/26 (old record: .444 vs Concord, 9/6/19)
Fewest Blocks Allowed — 0 at Hawaii Pacific, Aug. 19 (ties record last accomplished vs. Northwest Nazarene, 10/9/21)