THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thu., Oct. 5 — Marcus Pavilion — Lacey, Wash. — 6 pm ADT
Alaska Anchorage (10-10, 2-3 GNAC) at Saint Martin's (8-6, 2-3 GNAC)
&
Sat., Oct. 7 — New P.E. Building — Monmouth, Ore. — 6 pm ADT
Alaska Anchorage at Western Oregon (8-5, 2-3 GNAC [Thu. vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Thursday: youtube.com/watch?v=VpLCu5Rkypk
                       Saturday at youtube.com/watch?v=XEvspaV_2gE
LIVE STATS: Thursday: smusaints.com/sidearmstats/wvball
                       Saturday: wouwolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Jr. (0.49 kps, .289 att%, 4.59 aps, 0.32 bps)
RS—Bella Burney, 6-0, Fr. (1.41 kps, .142 att%, 0.61 bps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, So. (2.54 kps, .234 att%, 0.60 bps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Sr. (3.30 kps, .189 att%, 2.63 dps, 0.53 ace/set)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, Jr. (1.72 kps, .226 att%, 0.95 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Jr. (1.53 kps, .194 att%, 0.75 bps)
L—Reilly Plumhoff, 5-4, Jr. (3.17 dps, 0.87 aps, .942 rec.%)
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Seawolves return to the road this week to face longtime GNAC rivals Saint Martin's on Thursday in Lacey, Wash., and Western Oregon on Saturday in Monmouth ... both matches start at 6 p.m. ADT ... UAA and its two opponents enter the week in a three-way tie for sixth place in the GNAC standings.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Saint Martin's is coming off a pair of straight-sets road losses to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington as the Saints battle for their first-ever top-half GNAC finish this year ... SMU is led by Emily Garten (3.20 kps, .210 att%) and Sirena Peredo (2.65 kps, .157 att%, 3.02 dps) ... Western Oregon started the season 4-0 and is looking to ride the momentum from Saturday's 3-2 (15-11) road upset of Northwest Nazarene into its Thursday match with UAF ... the Wolves are led by Madison Hornback (3.18 kps, .230 att%, 3.04 dps, 0.47 bps) and Bailee Hartsook (2.36 kps, .247 att%).
 
THE SERIES...
vs SMU: UAA leads 41-4 overall, 20-3 in Lacey/Olympia
Streak: UAA 29
Last: UAA 3-0 (11/12/22 at SMU)
Notes: The 29-match win streak is the longest in program history against any opponent ... UAA has swept the last three meetings ... the Seawolves have won 87 of 96 sets during the streak, which started in 2008 ... UAA has won 15 straight on the road since SMU swept the 2007 series with a pair of 3-0 wins ... UAA leads 38-4 in GNAC matches (since 2001) ... teams played first two matches as Pac West Conference opponents in 1998 and 1999.
 
vs WOU: UAA leads 30-15 overall, 13-8 in Monmouth
Streak: UAA 19
Last: UAA 3-0 (11/10/22 at WOU)
Notes: The Seawolves have swept the last six meetings – the longest such streak for either team in the series ... UAA has won nine straight in Monmouth ... WOU's last win was Oct. 20, 2012 at the UAA Sports Complex ... UAA leads 28-14 in GNAC meetings ... series started in 1981 but teams did not play again until 1999.
 
ROUGH ROAD: The Seawolves are coming off a home split against the GNAC's last- and first-place clubs, sweeping Montana State Billings on Sept. 28 and falling in four sets to No. 24 Seattle Paific two nights later ... on Thursday, Sr. OH Nicole Blue had 13 kills on .379 hitting and Jr. S Kadyn Osborne dished a career-high 33 assists to lead a 25-15, 25-13, 25-15 decision over MSUB ... Jr. OH Bethany Tuchardt added 10 kills on .400 hitting and Jr. L Reilly Plumhoff had 15 digs as UAA held the Yellowjackets to -.036 hitting – the third-best defensive effort by a UAA club in GNAC history ... on Saturday, the Seawolves started well but could not sustain their momentum in a 22-25, 25-14, 25-16, 26-24 setback, seeing their program-record 12-match GNAC home win streak come to an end ... Tuchardt had 12 kills and Plumhoff managed career highs of 21 digs and 9 assists, but the nation's top blocking team outblocked the hosts 14-3 as UAA managed just .056 hitting.
 
FEELIN' BLUE: The Seawolves' lone senior and Preseason All-GNAC pick, OH Nicole Blue has lived up to the hype, leading the GNAC with 4.03 points per set and ranking 2nd in kills (3.30 kps), 2nd in aces (0.53) and 16th in digs (2.63) ... the team's most experienced all-rotation player, Blue has seven 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 16 of 20 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 currently for UAA's most aces per set (0.53) 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 3.35 kills and 1.75 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 recent 3-1 loss at Western Washington ... Evans currently ranks 10th in the GNAC with 0.95 blocks per set, while on UAA's career list she is 13th with 1.01 bps.
 
GOT YER BACK: The Seawolves have one of the top back-row tandems in the West Region this year as Jr. L/DS Reilly Plumhoff and So. L/DS Madison Galloway are combining for 5.68 digs per set and a .950+ reception percentage ... currently 10th in the GNAC stats with 3.17 dps, Plumhoff collected Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament honors and posted a career-high 21 digs in the 4-set loss to No. 24 SPU 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 62 ... meanwhile, Galloway has recorded double-digit digs in 10 of 20 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 20 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 5.89 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 26 kills on just 55 attacks for a .400 hitting pct. ... one of three former local Dimond High stars on the roster, Osborne is posting 4.59 aps and solid blocking numbers of 0.32 in a '6-2' rotation ... Osborne has dished at least 20 assists on seven occasions and registered multiple kills in 10 of her 19 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 11 of her first 20 matches ... UAA's second-leading kills producer with 2.54 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 ... after going 1-1 last week, the Seawolves are now 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