THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thu., Nov. 9 — Johnson Sports Center — Nampa, ID — 5 pm AST
Alaska Anchorage (15-15, 7-8 GNAC) at Northwest Nazarene (10-12, 6-8 GNAC)
&
Sat., Nov. 11 — Nicholson Pavilion — Ellensburg, WA — 6 pm AST
Alaska Anchorage at #19 Central Washington (16-6, 10-4 GNAC [Thu. vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Thursday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLiVTVlIEnI
                       Saturday: https://www.youtube.com/@CWUAthletics
LIVE STATS: Thursday: nnusports.com/sidearmstats/wvball
                       Saturday: wildcatsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023 stats)
S—Makana Eleneki, 5-6, Jr. (0.36 kps, .359 att%, 5.73 aps, 2.18 dps)
RS—Bella Burney, 6-0, Fr. (1.62 kps, .156 att%, 0.66 bps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, So. (2.57 kps, .192 att%, 0.56 bps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Sr. (3.33 kps, .175 att%, 2.60 dps, 0.49 ace/set)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, Jr. (1.76 kps, .220 att%, 1.07 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Jr. (1.53 kps, .180 att%, 0.82 bps)
L—Reilly Plumhoff, 5-4, Jr. (3.46 dps, 0.29 ace/set)
 
TWO FOR THE ROAD: The Seawolves head into their final three matches and finish the road portion of their schedule this week with matches at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday (5 pm AST) and No. xx Central Washington on Saturday (6 pm AST).
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Northwest Nazarene has dropped three of its last nine matches to fall into 7th in the GNAC standings with two weeks remaining ... the Nighthawks are led by Maren Dent (2.68 kps, .133 att%, 2.95 dps) and Gabi Moore (8.14 aps) ... ranked No. 19 and chasing a repeat NCAA Tournament berth, second-place Central Washington takes a four-match winning streak into Thursday's match at UAF ... the Wildcats are led by GNAC Preseason Player of the Year Tia Andaya (1.41 kps, 8.87 aps, 2.41 dps, 1.14 bps) and Scottie Ellsworth (2.78 kps, .277 att%, 0.63 bps).
 
THE SERIES...
vs NNU: UAA leads 26-19 overall, trails 13-9 in Nampa
Streak: UAA 10
Last: UAA 3-1 (10/14/23 at UAA)
Notes: The Seawolves have won each of the last four meetings in four sets ... UAA has won four straight in Nampa ... UAA has won 13 of the last 15 meetings, with NNU's last victory coming in Nampa in 2017 ... the 10-match winning streak is UAA's longest against NNU ... 13 of the last 15 and 23 of the last 27 matches have been 4- or 5-set affairs ... UAA leads 25-18 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) … NNU won first meeting in 2000, 3-1, in Nampa.
 
vs CWU: UAA leads 31-23 overall; tied 13-13 at CWU
Streak: CWU 1
Last: CWU 3-0 (10/12/23 at UAA)
Notes: Teams have split the last four meetings, with UAA winning 3-0 in Ellensburg last season ... of the 30 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 22-21 … 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.
 
SWEET HOME COOKING: The Seawolves established a three-match winning streak to evened their overall record with hard-fought 3-1 home wins over Western Oregon and Saint Martin's last week at the Alaska Airlines Center ... on Thursday, Sr. OH Nicole Blue had 15 kills and Jr. L Reilly Plumhoff had 21 digs, 6 assists and 2 aces to power a 25-20, 25-13, 16-25, 25-23 victory over WOU ... Jr. OH Bethany Tuchardt added 13 kills, Fr. RS Bella Burney had a career-high 11 kills, and Blue added 11 digs for her ninth double-double in the win ... on Saturday, Blue's 16 kills and a career-high 13 kills from Jr. MB Isabel Evans helped UAA eke out a 28-26, 25-22, 22-25, 28-26 victory to earn a season split with SMU ... Tuchardt ripped 13 kills on a career-high 42 attacks, Fr. OH/DS Trinity Tatupu doubled her previous career high with 16 digs, and Plumhoff managed 19 digs, 5 aces and 4 assists on her way to GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
 
FEELIN' BLUE: The Seawolves' lone senior and Preseason All-GNAC pick, OH Nicole Blue has lived up to the hype, ranking top-3 in the GNAC in points per set (2nd, 4.04), kills per set (3rd, 3.33 kps) and aces (2nd, 0.49), plus 18th in digs (2.60) ... the team's most experienced all-rotation player, Blue has nine 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 24 of 30 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 (0.49) since 25-point rally scoring took effect in 2008 ... she is also just five aces shy of tying O'Lita McWilliams's single-season program record of 59 in 2003.
 
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 3.29 kills and 1.89 blocks per set ... 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 13 kills in the 3-1 win over Saint Martin's ... Evans currently ranks 6th in the GNAC with 1.07 blocks per set, and Elder is 17th with 0.83 bps ... on UAA's career lists, Evans ranks 11th with 1.06 bps and 18th with 189 block assists.
 
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 6.23 digs per set and a .930 reception percentage ... currently 7th in the GNAC stats with 3.46 dps, Plumhoff collected Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament honors in September and was the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts against Western Oregon and Saint Martin's (5.00 dps, 0.88 ace/set in two wins) in November ... Plumhoff posted a career-high 23 digs in the 5-set win at Western Oregon and had 21 in the rematch with the Wolves ... 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 (12th, 111), aces per set (15th, 0.310) and victories (18th, 67) ... meanwhile, Galloway has recorded double-digit digs in 14 matches, topping out with a career-high 21 digs to key the 3-1 victory over Northwest Nazarene, and posting 15 and 14 in the wins last week ... Galloway ranks 16th in the GNAC with 2.77 dps, while the Floridian owns a .936 serve reception rate.
 
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 2.18 digs per set ... although not a huge attacker, Eleneki has made the most of her opportunities, collecting 35 kills on just 78 attacks for a team-best .359 hitting pct. ... one of three former local Dimond High stars on the roster, Osborne is posting 4.78 aps and solid blocking numbers of 0.42 in a primarily '6-2' rotation ... Osborne has dished at least 20 assists on 10 occasions and registered multiple kills in 17 of her 29 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 16 of her first 30 matches ... UAA's second-leading kills producer with 2.57 kps (10th GNAC), she started her home career with 14 kills on .355 hitting to power the win over Upper Iowa, and recorded 13 in each of the 3-1 home victories over Western Oregon and Saint Martin's ... the Battle Ground, Wash., native captured GNAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for her performance in Arkansas in September, 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: The Seawolves need two wins in their final three matches to claim their 16th consecutive winning season, while they must run the table to earn the program's  14th straight winning conference record ... currently in 6th place, UAA is in danger of seeing a streak of 14 straight top-4 GNAC finishes come to an end ... the Seawolves are 101-24 at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 148-36 at home since 2009 ... 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 ... with the loss to SPU last week, the Seawolves are now 25-22 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
GNAC All-Academic Team
LEILANI ELDER
Reddie-Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
MAKANA ELENEKI
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
GNAC All-Academic Team
MADISON GALLOWAY
GNAC All-Academic Team (4.00 GPA)
REILLY PLUMHOFF
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Oct. 30-Nov. 5
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
GNAC All-Academic Team
BETHANY TUCHARDT
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 11-17
Reddie-Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team