ANCHORAGE (Nov. 4) – Nicole Blue ripped 16 kills and Isabel Evans had a career-best offensive performance Thursday to help the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to thrilling 28-26, 25-22, 22-25, 28-26 victory over Saint Martin's at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (15-15, 7-8 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) got 13 kills on .364 hitting and five block assists from Evans as the junior middle blocker topped her previous high by two kills. Junior outside hitter Bethany Tuchardt collected 13 kills, but the big difference in the match was the back-row play of the Seawolves, who got double-digit digs from four players and outdug the visitors 82-66.

Junior libero Reilly Plumhoff led the defensive effort with 19 digs, freshman Trinity Tatupu made a career-high 16, while Madison Galloway and Makana Eleneki registered 14 and 11, respectively.

The Saints (15-9, 8-6) were led by 14 kills and four aces from freshman outside hitter Emily Garten, and 42 assists, nine digs and three aces from setter Karla Soto.

"That was the grittiest win we've had all season," said UAA head coach Stacie Meisner, whose team won its third in a row. "Saint Martin's is an extremely good team, but we really came through in the key moments with some huge plays tonight, and we couldn't have been better on the last three rallies that gave us the win."

After falling in four sets to the Saints on Oct. 5 in Washington, the Seawolves came out of the gate strong, building a 14-9 lead on a kill by Blue. Evans spotted UAA a 24-20 advantage with a kill, only to see the Saints claim the next four points. After offsetting service errors, Garten answered another Evans kill with one of her own to tie it 26-26. Tuchardt then converted a kill on a set from Kadyn Osborne (22 assists, 2 total blocks), and Soto committed a ball-handling error on set point.

Both teams were at their best offensively in the second set, with UAA outhitting SMU .366  to .239, and taking the frame with hot hitting from Blue (6 kills, 0 errors, 17 attacks) and Evans (5 kills, 0 errors, 7 attacks).

The Saints controlled the lead for much of the third and fought off a late comeback thanks to four kills in the frame by Garten, including set point.

SMU erased an early 5-1 deficit in the final set and pulled ahead briefly at 11-10 before a big Seawolf surge. Tied 14-14, UAA got consecutive kills by Bella Burney and Evans, and Plumhoff followed with a crowd-pleasing run of four straight aces. Burney and Evans combined to block Garten for a 21-14 advantage, but the Saints had one more comeback in them.

Soto set Jennifer Soha and Sirena Perdeo for back-to-back kills to make it 23-23, and Peredo delivered again to fight off UAA's first try at match point. The Seawolves would face two set points against them at 25-24 and 26-25, but Tuchardt came through with kills in both instances. Galloway dug a lightning-bolt attack by Garten to set up Leilani Elder's kill on the ensuing point, and UAA claimed the win when Burney deflected it off the Saints block for her eighth kill.

Eleneki led UAA with 25 assists, Plumhoff finished with five aces, and Burney was in on four of UAA's six team blocks.

Needing two wins in their last three matches to claim a 15th straight winning season, the Seawolves hit the road for two contests next week, starting Thursday (5 p.m. AST) at Northwest Nazarene. Find live video and stats links at GoSeawolves.com.