THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
at Denali State Bank Ice Block Challenge
Patty Center – Fairbanks, Alaska
(times listed ADT)
Thursday, Sept. 1
4 pm: Findlay (0-3) vs #20 Alaska Anchorage (7-0)
Friday, Sept. 2
Noon: Florida Southern (3-0) vs #20 Alaska Anchorage
5 pm: Black Hills State (1-3) vs #20 Alaska Anchorage
Saturday, Sept. 3
9:30 am: Arkansas Fort Smith (3-1) vs #20 Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Surf to the UAA Volleyball schedule page at GoSeawolves.com for links to each match – goseawolves.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule
 
LIVE STATS: All matches at alaskananooks.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. (10.83 aps, .250 att%, 2.52 dps, 0.48 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Sr. (4.52 kps, .412 att%, 2.04 dps, 0.52 bps)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, Sr. (3.26 kps, .320 att%, 0.87 dps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, So. (2.48 kps, .379 att%, 1.09 dps, 0.39 bps)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, So. (1.41 kps, .407 att%, 0.68 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, So. (1.32 kps, .379 att%, 0.73 bps)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Sr. (3.61 dps, 0.57 ace/set, 0.96 aps)
 
SEAWOLF INVITE RECAP: UAA earned the unofficial title of its own Seawolf Invitational last week, sweeping three matches and responding from a 2-0 deficit against Point Loma to win in five sets at the Alaska Airlines Center ... the Seawolves hit an impressive .383 over the four contests, with the .488 mark against Emmanuel and the .427 mark against Lubbock Christian ranking as the program's 2nd- and 5th-best hitting percentages since the rally-scoring era began in 2001 ... seniors Eve Stephens and Ellen Floyd were named the event's co-Most Outstanding Players, while Sr. OH Lisa Jaunet made the all-tournament team after ripping a career-high 25 kills in the win over Point Loma.
 
THE SERIES...
vs Findlay and Black Hills State: First meetings
 
vs Florida Southern: FSC leads 3-1 overall (0-0 neutral)
Streak: FSC 3
Last: FSC 3-2 (8/28/04 FSC)
Notes: UAA's lone victory came in the initial series meeting, by a 3-1 count on Sept. 19, 1987 in Anchorage.
 
vs Arkansas Fort Smith: UAA leads 1-0
Last: UAA 3-2 (9-3-16 at UAA)
 
THE OPPONENTS...
Findlay
  Location: Findlay, Ohio
  Conference: Great Midwest Conference
  Record (as of Aug. 31): 0-3
 
Florida Southern
  Location: Lakeland, Florida
  Conference: Sunshine State Conference
  Record (as of Aug. 31): 3-1
 
Black Hills State
  Location: Spearfish, South Dakota
  Conference: Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
  Record (as of Aug. 31): 1-3
 
Arkansas-Fort Smith
  Location: Fort Smith, Arkansas
  Conference: Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc.
  Record (as of Aug. 31): 3-1
 
INTO THE POLLS: The Seawolves went from receiving votes in the AVCA Div. II Top 25 poll to No. 20 in this week's initial regular-season rankings ... the rank is UAA's highest since holding the same spot in the Sept. 18, 2017 poll, which was the 31st of a program-best 32 straight weeks in the rankings for the Seawolves.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA's 7-0 start is the third-best in program history behind the 14-0 start of the 2015 GNAC title squad and the 10-0 start for the 1988 club ... the Seawolves' .360 team attack percentage ranks 3rd nationally, along with top-25 ranks in kills per set (14th, 14.13), assists per set (17th, 13.09) and aces per set (22nd, 2.65) ... the -.033 attack percentage allowed against Hawaii Hilo was UAA's best defensive mark since holding Concord to -.082 hitting on Sept. 6, 2019 ... UAA is already at plus-100 in the kills category, racking up 325 to their opponents' 225 through seven matches ... the Seawolves are aiming for their 15th consecutive winning season, hoping to extend the program record that began with Chris Green's arrival at UAA in 2008 ... UAA is also on program-best streaks with 12 straight winning conference records and 12 straight top-4 GNAC finishes ... the Seawolves are 85-19 (.817) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 132-31 (.810) at home since 2009; UAA has never lost three straight matches at the Alaska Airlines Center ... the Seawolves are 23-18 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014 and 32-45 overall vs. 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 rack up numbers at a record-setting pace ... the career active kills leader in NCAA Div. II, Stephens holds early GNAC ranks of 2nd in points per set (5.62, 8th nationally) and kills per set (4.52, 10th nationally) and 4th in hitting pct. (.412), along with solid defensive numbers of 2.04 digs and 0.52 blocks per set ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has 30 for her career after leading the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... with 1,807 points and 1,531 career kills, Stephens has risen to No. 2 on the Seawolves' all-time lists, on pace to break Jen Szczerbinski's 30-year-old program records of 1,973 and 1,691 ... on UAA's other career lists, Stephens ranks 2nd in kps (3.76), 7th in attack percentage (.286), 7th in block assists (297), 9th in total blocks (318) and 11th in victories (79) ... 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.
 
THINK FLOYD: A two-time All-GNAC selection and 2019 AVCA honorable mention All-American, Sr. S Ellen Floyd is off to an impressive start in her final season, leading UAA to the nation's 3rd-best attack pct. (.360) in the nation thus far ... the Floridian was co-Most Outstanding Player of last week's Seawolf Invitational, delivering 11.92 assists per set in the four victories and rising to the top of UAA's all-time assists list Friday against Point Loma ... after leading the GNAC with 0.48 aces per set last year, she holds early league ranks of 2nd in assists (10.83 aps), 11th in aces (0.48) and 20th in digs (2.52 dps) ... the NCAA active leader in career assists, Floyd now owns UAA's career assists (3,973) and aces (178) records, alongside other ranks of 3rd in assists average (9.62 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.431), 10th in digs (1,079) and 7th in victories (81) ... 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: Sr. L Talia Leauanae is one of three Seawolves in her fifth year in Green & Gold ... the Hawaiian has posted double-digit digs in six of seven matches thus far, including a UAA season-high 18 in the sweep of Pittsburg State, and she delivered 4 aces with no service errors in the 3-2 win over Point Loma ... Leauanae holds early league ranks of 7th in digs per set (3.61) and 8th in aces per set (0.57) ... on UAA's career lists, Leauanae now stands 8th in total digs (1,121), 11th in digs per set (3.33) and 20th in aces per set (0.27) ... a former JC transfer, Sr. OH Lisa Jaunet appears twice as comfortable in her second season in Green & Gold, producing nearly one more kill per set and hiting 135 points higher than her .185 attack pct. from 2021 ... the St. Denis, France, native has had at least seven kills in each match in thus far, including 10 on .563 hitting against Lubbock Christian, eight on career-best .667 hitting against Emmanuel and a career-high 25 to to lead the comeback win over Point Loma last week ... in the early GNAC stats, Jaunet ranks 6th in kills per set (3.26), 10th in points per set (3.41) and 12th in attack pct. (.320).
 
MORE 'WOLF BITES: Third-year sophomore OH Nicole Blue has also shown marked improvement from her 2021 production, ripping at least six kills and hitting no lower than .267 in all seven matches ... the Southern Californian helped spark the comeback against Point Loma with 13 kills on .313 hitting and 6 digs, and she had 9 kills against both Hawaii Pacific and Pitt State ... Blue ranks 5th in the GNAC with a .379 attack pct. and 18th with 2.48 kills per set ... another third-year sophomore, DS Reilly Plumhoff is making a big impact as a serving specialist, producing 16 aces and just 9 service errors thus far ... the local Dimond HS product has at least one ace in all seven matches, including six with zero errors against Emmanuel, and she has made just one reception error in 32 attempts ... another pair of sophomores have taken command as UAA's starting middle blockers this year, with returnee Leilani Elder and JC transfer Isabel Evans combining for 2.73 kills per set on .393 hitting and 1.41 blocks per set ... Elder broke out with at least five kills and two blocks in all four matches of the Seawolf Invitational, averaging 1.64 kps on .441 hitting and 0.71 bps, highlighted by 6 kills on .600 hitting against Lubbock Christian ... meanwhile, Evans has recorded plus-.250 hitting percentages in six of seven matches since transfering from Williston State College ... the Montanan hit .600 in the win over Hawaii Pacific and .667 in the sweep of No. 25 Chaminade.
 
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to an unprecedented 14 straight winning seasons, UAA head coach Chris Green (293-113, .722) 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 .765 clip (202-62) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .809 (123-29) 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
Seawolf Invitational co-Most Outstanding Player
Preseason All-GNAC Team
LISA JAUNET
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
EVE STEPHENS
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 Assists — 3,973 by Ellen Floyd, 2018-current (old record: 3,920 by Morgan Hooe, 2013-16)
Most Aces — 178 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)