THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thu., Oct. 19 — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK — 7 pm ADT
Simon Fraser (11-6, 6-3 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (12-12, 4-5 GNAC)
&
Sat., Oct. 21 — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK — 2 pm ADT
Western Washington (6-11, 6-3 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023 stats)
S—Makana Eleneki, 5-6, Jr. (0.39 kps, .387 att%, 5.73 aps, 2.17 bps)
RS—Bella Burney, 6-0, Fr. (1.49 kps, .139 att%, 0.63 bps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, So. (2.58 kps, .218 att%, 0.60 bps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Sr. (3.19 kps, .179 att%, 2.72 dps, 0.48 ace/set)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, Jr. (1.63 kps, .195 att%, 0.97 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Jr. (1.57 kps, .199 att%, 0.83 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (2.73 dps, 0.57 aps, .949 rec.%)
 
SECOND HALF SPRINT: The second half of the 18-match Great Northwest Athletic Conference slate begins this week as sixth-place UAA hosts Simon Fraser and Western Washington, which come north in a three-way tie for second in the 10-team league ... Saturday's match will be a pink-themed event, raising funds for local cancer charity Let Every Woman Know.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: In a statistical rarity, Simon Fraser has swept all six of its GNAC victories and been swept in all three of its losses ... the Red Leafs, who have not played a 5-setter this season, are led by Jocelyn Sherman (2.91 kps, .163 att%, 2.58 dps) and Sophie Lachappelle (2.57 kps, .291 att%, 0.57 bps) ... after starting the year 0-9 against virtually all nationally ranked competition, Western Washington has stayed in the hunt for the GNAC title and automatic NCAA berth by winning six of its last eight ... the Vikings are led by Devyn Oestrich (2.52 kps, .181 att%, 3.09 dps, 0.52 bps) and Emily Vossenkuhl (1.57 kps, .188 att%, 1.18 bps).
 
THE SERIES...
vs SFU: UAA leads 20-5 overall, 10-2 in Anchorage
Streak: SFU 2
Last: SFU 3-0 (9/23/23 at SFU)
Notes: SFU's victory last month in Burnaby gave the Red Leafs their first win streak in series history ... SFU's upset of UAA last year in Burnaby was the Seawolves' lone GNAC loss of the season ... teams have split the last 10 meetings after UAA won the first 15 matches in series history ... UAA leads 6-2 at the Alaska Airlines Center, including a 3-1 win last season ... nine of the last 12 meetings have gone four or five sets ... SFU joined the GNAC in 2010.
 
vs WWU: WWU leads 39-21 overall, 21-11 in Anchorage
Streak: WWU 1
Last: WWU 3-1 (9/21/23 at WWU)
Notes: UAA is hoping to forge the first regular-season split between the rivals since 2016 ... the Seawolves swept last year's series, including a 3-0 win in Anchorage on Sept. 22 ... 11 of the last 13 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 21 meetings ... the road team has won 14 of the last 23 meetings ... WWU leads 6-3 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... WWU won 17 straight from 2001-08 … teams have met every year since 2000 … series started in 1980.
 
1-1 BUT LOTS OF FUN: The Seawolves used the energy from a near-record home crowd Saturday to bounce back for a split of its matches last week against No. 16 Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene at the Alaska Airlines Center ... on Thursday, Jr. OH Bethany Tuchardt and Jr. MB Leilani Elder tallied 8 kills apiece, but the Wildcats used a huge 3rd-set comeback to earn a 25-23, 25-21, 27-25 victory ... two nights later, a crowd of 3,280 – the 4th-largest in NCAA Div. II regular-season history – watched Sr. OH Nicole Blue rip 16 kills as UAA outslugged NNU 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-16 ... Tuchardt had 14 kills and So. L Madison Galloway recorded career highs of 21 digs and 7 assists to help UAA hold the Nighthawks to .026 hitting over the final three sets.
 
FEELIN' BLUE: The Seawolves' lone senior and Preseason All-GNAC pick, OH Nicole Blue has lived up to the hype, ranking 2nd in the GNAC with 3.90 points per set, along with 3rd in kills (3.19 kps), 2nd in aces (0.48) and 16th in digs (2.72) ... 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 18 of 24 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, and is currently on pace for UAA's third-most aces per set (0.48) 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 3.20 kills and 1.80 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 0.97 blocks per set, and Elder is 16th with 0.83 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 6.03 digs per set and a .940+ reception percentage ... currently 9th in the GNAC stats with 3.30 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 the former Dimond High standout also had 4 aces to key the win over Florida Tech, and now stands top 20 on UAA's career lists for aces (20th, 102), aces per set (16th, .304) and victories (18th, 64) ... meanwhile, Galloway has recorded double-digit digs in 12 of 24 matches, topping out with a career-high 21 digs to key the 3-1 victory over Northwest Nazarene ... Galloway now ranks 15th in the GNAC with 2.73 dps, while the Floridian owns a team-best .949 serve reception rate, committing multiple reception errors in just three of 24 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 5.73 assists per set (8th in GNAC) thus far, while also managing 2.17 digs per set ... although not a huge attacker, Eleneki has made the most of her opportunities, collecting 29 kills on just 62 attacks for a team-best .387 hitting pct. ... one of three former local Dimond High stars on the roster, Osborne is posting 4.77 aps and solid blocking numbers of 0.35 in a primarily '6-2' rotation ... Osborne has dished at least 20 assists on eight occasions and registered multiple kills in 14 of her 23 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 14 of her first 24 matches, including the last six of the last seven contests ... UAA's second-leading kills producer with 2.58 kps (11th 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 99-22 at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 146-34 at home since 2009 ... with the loss to Central Washington, the Seawolves are now 25-21 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