THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Sat., Oct. 1 – 2 pm ADT – Patty Center – Fairbanks, Alaska
#11 Alaska Anchorage (16-1, 6-0 GNAC) at Alaska Fairbanks (13-5, 3-3 GNAC)
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=b_CF6jOKn2g
 
LIVE STATS: 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. (10.46 aps, .190 att%, 2.64 dps, 0.42 bps, 0.42 ace/set)
RS—Eve Stephens, 6-1, Sr. (4.59 kps, .378 att%, 2.41 dps, 0.66 bps, 0.61 ace/set)
OH—Lisa Jaunet, 5-10, Sr. (3.00 kps, .265 att%)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, So. (2.12 kps, .259 att%, 1.10 dps, 0.34 bps)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, So. (1.23 kps, .329 att%, 0.86 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, So. (1.30 kps, .291 att%, 0.94 bps)
L—Talia Leauanae, 5-8, Sr. (3.85 dps, 0.37 ace/set, 0.64 aps)
 
ALASKA RIVALRY RENEWS: The teams with the most overall victories in the GNAC meet for the first time this season when 11th-ranked Alaska Anchorage invades the Patty Center for a Saturday 2 p.m. tilt against Alaska Fairbanks ... UAA rides an eight-match winning streak into the contest, while the Nanooks are hunting a signature victory to add to their playoff resume.
 
SCOUTING THE NANOOKS: Picked sixth of 10 in the GNAC preseason poll, Alaska Fairbanks has played virtually the same schedule as UAA, going 10-2 in the non-conference season ... the Nanooks have split each of their first three GNAC series, including a 3-1 victory over Simon Fraser and a 3-1 loss to Western Washington last week at the Patty Center ... UAF is led by OH Rilee White (2.84 kps, .207 att%, 2.22 dps, 0.59 ace/set) and MB Kristina Head (2.09 kps, .313 att%, 1.10 bps).
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 76-38 overall, 32-25 at UAF
Streak: UAF 1
Last: UAF 3-1 (11/13/21 at UAF)
Notes: UAA has won five of the last nine meetings, following a 16-match win streak from 2010-18 ... the home team has won 10 of the last 11 meetings ... seven of the last 11 meetings have been 4- or 5-setters ... UAA leads 28-12 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) and 23-7 under head coach Chris Green (since 2008) ... teams have played at least twice per season since 1980.
 
STROLLIN' THE POLLS: The Seawolves remained in the AVCA Div. II Top 25 poll for the fifth straight week, rising three spots to No. 11 in Monday's poll ... UAA is one of two GNAC teams in the rankings, along with No. 12 Western Washington, while Northwest Nazarene and non-conference foes Point Loma and Chaminade are among teams receiving votes.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Seawolves stayed unbeaten in six GNAC matches and improved to 8-0 at the Alaska Airlines Center with enormous wins over then-No. 10 Western Washington (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) and Simon Fraser (25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21) last week ... on Thursday, Sr. RS Eve Stephens ripped 21 kills on .333 hitting and Sr. S Ellen Floyd had 32 assists, 4 kills and 16 digs as UAA became the first team in seven years to sweep a GNAC match from WWU ... Sr. OH Lisa Jaunet added 8 kills on .318 hitting, Sr. L Talia Leauanae had 12 digs and So. DS Reilly Plumhoff made a season-high 10 digs to help limit the visitors to .157 hitting ... on Saturday, Floyd delivered 40 assists, 6 kills, 5 aces and 10 digs to help the Seawolves escape the Red Leafs' upset bid ... Jaunet and Stephens had 12 kills apiece and Stephens added 10 digs as UAA erased a 18-11 deficit to win the third set, while So. MB Leilani Elder tallied a career-high 7 kills.
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves' .295 team attack percentage ranks second in the nation, along with top-50 ranks in aces per set (30th, 2.27), assists per set (38th, 12.31) and kills per set (42nd, 13.22) ... UAA leads the GNAC in attack percentage and is second in kills per set, assists per set, aces per set and opponent attack pct. (.152) ... at 16-1, UAA has matched the 2016 team for the best 17-match record in program history ... UAA's 8-0 record marked its third-longest unbeaten streak to begin a season ... the -.033 attack percentage allowed against Hawaii Hilo was UAA's best defensive mark since Sept. 6, 2019, while the -.022 allowed vs. WOU was UAA's 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 is seeking to improve program-best streaks of 12 straight winning conference records and 12 straight top-4 GNAC finishes ... the Seawolves are 89-19 (.824) at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014 and 136-31 (.814) 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 rack up record-setting numbers, now standing as the GNAC and UAA all-time leader in both points (2,017) and kills (1,698) ... 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 four GNAC player-of-the-week honors have boosted her to a GNAC-record 11 for her career ... after producing 33 kills last week, she holds national ranks of 2nd in points per set (5.61), 7th in kills per set (4.59) and 19th in aces per set (0.61), making her the only D-II player in the top 25 in all three categories ... the Palmer (Colony HS) product has 36 double-doubles for her career, having led the GNAC in both kills and points per set in 2019 and 2020-21 ... having claimed UAA's all-time kills record last week, Stephens also holds program career ranks of 2nd in kills per set (3.82), 5th in attack pct. (.292), 5th in aces (132), 7th in block assists (317), 9th in total blocks (345) and 7th in victories (88) ... 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 second-best team attack percentage (.295) in NCAA Div. II thus far, while ranking 26th individually with 10.46 assists per set ... the co-MVP of the Seawolf Invitational in August, she holds GNAC ranks of 2nd in assists per set, 15th in aces per set (0.42) and 15th in digs per set (2.64, the most among GNAC setters) ... having already broken the UAA career records for assists (4,341) and aces (192), Floyd has her sights on both GNAC marks, currently at No. 3 in assists and No. 2 in aces; she needs just 30 more assists to rise to 2nd in assists and six more aces to tie CWU's Erin Norris (198 aces, 2006-09) atop that list ... the Florida native has produced at least 30 assists in 12 of 17 matches, helping UAA hit no lower than .225 all but twice ... Floyd's 64 assists against Florida Southern were the most by a Seawolf since 2004, and she has produced double-digit digs in seven matches ... on UAA's career lists, Floyd currently sits 1st in assists and aces, 3rd in assists average (9.67 aps), 3rd in aces per set (0.43), 6th in digs (1,177) and 6th in victories (90) ... 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 13 of 17 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 4th in digs per set (3.85) and 17th in aces per set (0.37) ... on UAA's career lists, she stands 4th in total digs (1,265) and 11th in digs per set (3.39) ... 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 seven kills in each match and double figures in seven contests, producing 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 ... in the GNAC stats, Jaunet ranks 6th in kills per set (3.00), 15th in points per set (3.12) and 17th in attack pct. (.265), while she is 17th on UAA's career list for attack pct. at .266.
 
MORE 'WOLF BITES: Third-year sophomore OH Nicole Blue has also shown marked improvement from her 2021 production, ripping at least five kills in 16 of 17 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 ... she also ranks 19th in the GNAC with her .259 attack pct. ... another pair of sophomores have taken over in the middle this year, with returnee Leilani Elder (0.84 bps) and JC transfer Isabel Evans (0.86 bps) both ranking among the GNAC's top 12 in blocks per set ... Elder has tallied four or more kills on nine occasions and multiple blocks in 11 of 13 appearances, including recent career highs of 8 block assists at SPU and 7 kills against SFU ... meanwhile, Evans has recorded at least .250 hitting in 10 of 17 matches since transfering from Williston State College, including five .500-plus efforts ... the Montanan hit a UAA season-best .714 with 10 kills against Florida Southern, .600 in the win over Hawaii Pacific and .667 in the sweep of No. 25 Chaminade ... So. DS Reilly Plumhoff has five aces over that last four matches to rise to 17th in the GNAC with 0.37 aces per set ... the Dimond High product also leads the Seawolves with a .963 reception percentage and is coming off a season-best 10 digs against SFU.
 
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 (302-114, .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 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 .770 clip (211-63) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .816 (129-29) 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
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 — 2,017.5 by Eve Stephens, 2018-current (old record: 1,973 by Jen Szczerbinski, 1988-90, 1992)
Most Kills — 1,698 by Eve Stephens, 2018-current (old record: 1,691 by Jen Szczerbinski, 1988-90, 1992)
Most Assists — 4,341 by Ellen Floyd, 2018-current (old record: 3,920 by Morgan Hooe, 2013-16)
Most Aces — 192 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)