THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thu., Oct. 12 — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK — 7 pm ADT
#16 Central Washington (11-4, 5-2 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (11-11, 3-4 GNAC)
&
Sat., Oct. 14 — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK — 7 pm ADT
Northwest Nazarene (7-8, 3-4 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com (all tickets on sale for $5 [half price] for Saturday)
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Jr. (0.51 kps, .255 att%, 4.81 aps, 0.33 bps)
RS—Bella Burney, 6-0, Fr. (1.49 kps, .148 att%, 0.60 bps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, So. (2.53 kps, .226 att%, 0.62 bps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Sr. (3.21 kps, .182 att%, 2.38 dps, 0.51 ace/set)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, Jr. (1.67 kps, .220 att%, 0.96 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Jr. (1.50 kps, .187 att%, 0.80 bps)
L—Reilly Plumhoff, 5-4, Jr. (3.32 dps, 0.87 aps, .939 rec.%)
 
THE PACK IS BACK: The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center this week to conclude the first half of the 18-match Great Northwest Athletic Conference slate, hosting No. 16 Central Washington on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, both at 7 p.m. ... Saturday's match will be a 'Pack the House' event, sponsored by ConocoPhillips Alaska, featuring $5 (half price) tickets, the chance to win a round-trip ticket on Alaska Airlines, and giveaways of glow-in-the-dark mini volleyballs.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: GNAC preseason favorite and currently 16th-ranked in the AVCA D-II Top 25 poll, Central Washington rides a three-match win streak into Thursday night's match ... the Wildcats are led by Scottie Ellsworth (3.02 kps, .294 att%), Emma Daoud-Hebert (1.75 kps, .304 att%, 1.47 bps) and GNAC Preseason Player of the Year Tia Andaya (1.26 kps, .323 att%, 9.20 aps, 2.31 dps) ... Northwest Nazarene is trying to snap a two-match skid when it travels Thursday to UAF, and has dropped eight of 11 following a 4-0 start ... the Nighthawks, from Nampa, Idaho, are led by Maren Dent (2.78 kps, .135 att%, 2.71 dps) and Londyn Giles (2.53 kps, .126 att%, 2.15 dps).
 
THE SERIES...
vs CWU: UAA leads 31-22 overall, 16-10 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 2
Last: UAA 3-0 (11/5/22 at UAA)
Notes: UAA has won five of the last six ... the Seawolves lead 7-1 at the Alaska Airlines Center, with the lone loss coming in 2018 ... of the 29 meetings since 2008, 11 have gone 5 sets and seven have gone 4 sets, with the Seawolves winning 16 of those 18 contests ... the Seawolves lead the GNAC series 22-20 … teams have met every season since 1999 ... first meeting was a 2-1 UAA neutral-court win in 1980 ... teams did not meet between 1983-98.
 
vs NNU: UAA leads 25-19 overall, 16-6 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 9
Last: UAA 3-1 (11/3/22 at UAA)
Notes: UAA has won 12 of the last 14 meetings, with NNU's last victory coming in Nampa in 2017 ... UAA has won seven straight at home since dropping the inaugural meeting in the Alaska Airlines Center in 2014 ... the 9-match winning streak is UAA's longest against NNU ... 12 of the last 14 and 22 of the last 26 matches have been 4- or 5-set affairs ... UAA leads 24-18 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) … NNU won first meeting in 2000, 3-1, in Nampa.
 
RARE ROAD SPLIT: The Seawolves came away last week with a 1-1 record on their trip to Saint Martin's and Western Oregon for the first time since those teams became GNAC travel partners in 2006 ... on Thursday, Jr. OH Bethany Tuchardt had 10 kills and Jr. L Reilly Plumhoff managed 16 digs, but the Saints pulled first- and third-set comebacks to snap a 29-match losing skid (UAA's longest against any program) to the Seawolves, 25-20, 22-25, 29-27, 25-11 ... on Saturday, Sr. OH Nicole Blue had 13 kills and 13 digs, and Jr. S Kadyn Osborne had career bests of 42 assists and 4 kills to aid a 25-21, 22-25, 22-25, 25-17, 15-11 win over WOU ... Tuchardt had 12 kills, Fr. RS Bella Burney equaled her career high with 10 kills, and Plumhoff tallied a career-high 23 digs as UAA pushed its winning streak to 20 in a row against the Wolves.
 
FEELIN' BLUE: The Seawolves' lone senior and Preseason All-GNAC pick, OH Nicole Blue has lived up to the hype, leading the GNAC with 3.94 points per set and ranking 3rd in kills (3.21 kps), 2nd in aces (0.51) and 17th in digs (2.67) ... the team's most experienced all-rotation player, Blue has eight double-doubles (the first of her career), including 15 kills and a career-high 23 digs in the win over Hawaii Hilo, and a career-high 20 kills in a 4-setter at WWU ... the Cerritos, Calif., native has reached double-figure kills in 17 of 22 contests, including 19 in the loss to Hilo, 18 in a loss to Chaminade, and 18 in the 3-0 win over Union ... Blue set the UAA rally-scoring (since 2001) record with 8 aces in a 3-set match against Arkansas Monticello, putting her on pace for UAA's second-most aces per set (0.51) since 25-point rally scoring took effect in 2008.
 
KILLER 'E's: UAA's two veteran returners in the middle have stepped into leadership roles this season as Jr. MB Leilani Elder and Jr. MB Isabel Evans are combining for 3.17 kills and 1.76 blocks per set thus far ... Elder was clutch in helping UAA to a 3-1 record at its own Seawolf Invitational, hitting over .300 in each match and finishing with consecutive career highs of 8 and 11 kills in the victories over Cal Poly Humboldt and Florida Tech ... meanwhile, Evans connected for 11 kills on .550 hitting to power the 3-2 comeback win over Upper Iowa and tallied a career-high 12 kills in the 3-1 loss at Western Washington ... Evans currently ranks 10th in the GNAC with 0.95 blocks per set, and Elder is 16th with 0.80 bps ... on UAA's career list, Evans ranks 13th with 1.01 bps.
 
GOT YER BACK: The Seawolves have one of the top back-row tandems in the GNAC this year as Jr. L/DS Reilly Plumhoff and So. L/DS Madison Galloway are combining for 5.92 digs per set and a .940+ reception percentage ... currently 8th in the GNAC stats with 3.32 dps, Plumhoff collected Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament honors in September and posted a career-high 23 digs in the 5-set win at Western Oregon last week ... the former Dimond High standout also had 4 aces to key the win over Florida Tech, and now stands 18th on the UAA program's all-time victories list with 63 ... meanwhile, Galloway has recorded double-digit digs in 11 of 22 matches, including the four highest totals of her career (20 vs Lander, 18 vs Stanislaus State  and 17 vs Florida Tech and Henderson State) ... the Floridian owns a team-best .950 serve reception rate, committing multiple reception errors in just two of 22 matches.
 
SETTER UP: For the first time since 2017, the Seawolves are using two primary setters, with juniors Makana Eleneki and Kadyn Osborne taking over offensive quarterback duties ... a graduate student in her fifth year with the program, Eleneki has impressed with 5.85 assists per set (8th in GNAC) thus far, while also managing 2.22 digs per set ... although not a huge attacker, Eleneki has made the most of her opportunities thus far, collecting 27 kills on just 58 attacks for a .397 hitting pct. ... one of three former local Dimond High stars on the roster, Osborne is posting 4.81 aps and solid blocking numbers of 0.33 in a primarily '6-2' rotation ... Osborne has dished at least 20 assists on eight occasions and registered multiple kills in 12 of her 21 appearances, along with 5 block assists in the 3-1 win over Florida Tech.
 
I HEART TUCHARDT: An All-NWAC performer at Highline (Wash.) College, Jr. OH Bethany Tuchardt (pronounced TOO-hart) has started her NCAA career with double-digit kills in 13 of her first 22 matches, including the last five contests ... UAA's second-leading kills producer with 2.53 kps (13th GNAC), she started her home career with 14 kills on .355 hitting to power the win over Upper Iowa ... the Battle Ground, Wash., native captured GNAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for her performance in Arkansas, which included a 14-kill effort on .565 hitting against Ouachita and 16 kills on .429 hitting in the win over Henderson State.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA's .409 attack percentage against Ouachita Baptist was the program's 12th-best since rally scoring took effect in 2001 ... the -.049 attack percentage by Arkansas Monticello and the -.040 by UAF marked the 7th- and 8th-best opponent attack numbers by a UAA team in the rally scoring era ... the 14 aces (with no errors) against Monticello were the most by a Seawolf team since Oct. 22, 2019 ... the Seawolves saw their Alaska Airlines Center record streak of 16 straight victories come to an end with the loss to St. Cloud State ... the Seawolves are aiming for their 16th consecutive winning season, 14th straight winning conference record and 14th straight top-4 GNAC finish in 2023 ... the Seawolves are 98-21 at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 145-33 at home since 2009 ... with the loss to Seattle Pacific, the Seawolves are now 25-20 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014.
 
EYES ON MEISNER: After six seasons as the program's top assistant, former Seawolf standout Stacie Meisner takes the head coaching reins in 2023 ... in her six years on former mentor Chris Green's staff, Meisner helped the Seawolves achieve a 119-42 record and NCAA Tournament appearances in four of the five seasons not affected by Covid ... UAA went a combined 74-20 in the GNAC during her assistant-coaching tenures, finishing no worse than third place and capturing the league title in 2022 ... Meisner began her collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant on UAA's 2011 club that went 18-9 and earned an NCAA berth ... she rejoined UAA in the same capacity in 2018 and was promoted to top assistant in 2019 ... UAA's starting libero from 2008-09, helping spark the program's turnaround; in 2009, she led UAA with 4.54 digs and 0.36 aces per set as the Seawolves won their first GNAC title, reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament and equaled the best record in school history at 23-8 ... an honorable mention All-GNAC and academic all-conference honoree, she finished No. 2 in digs per set (4.53) and No. 3 in aces per set (.357) on UAA's career lists ... also a JC star at Western Nebraska CC in 2006-07, Meisner graduated from UAA with magna cum laude honors in English in 2011, before earning her Master of Arts in English from UAA in 2015.
 
2023 Individual Honors
NICOLE BLUE
Denali State Bank Ice Block Classic All-Tournament Team
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Aug. 21-27
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
Preseason All-GNAC Team
LEILANI ELDER
Reddie-Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
MAKANA ELENEKI
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
REILLY PLUMHOFF
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
BETHANY TUCHARDT
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 11-17
Reddie-Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team