THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
at Reddie-Tiger Invitational
Duke Wells Center & Sturgis PE Center — Arkadelphia, Ark.
Friday, Sept. 15
7 am ADT: Alaska Anchorage (5-7) vs Union (1-7) – at DWC
3 pm ADT: Alaska Anchorage vs Ouachita Baptist – at SPEC
Saturday, Sept. 16
6 am ADT: Alaska Anchorage vs Arkansas Monticello – at DWC
10 am ADT: Alaska Anchorage at Henderson State – at DWC
 
LIVE VIDEO: Duke Wells Center matches: youtube.com/@ReddieAthletics1/streams
                       Sturgis PE Center match: youtube.com/@OSDNMedia
LIVE STATS: DWC matches: statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=hend
                       SPEC match: obutigers.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023 stats)
S—Makana Eleneki, 5-6, Jr. (0.41 kps, .421 att%, 6.11 aps, 2.39 dps)
RS—Bella Burney, 6-0, Fr. (1.33 kps, .095 att%, 0.37 bps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, So. (2.30 kps, .186 att%, 0.57 bps)
OH—Nicole Blue, 5-9, Sr. (2.89 kps, .163 att%, 2.93 dps, 0.52 ace/set)
MB—Isabel Evans, 6-3, Jr. (1.63 kps, .245 att%, 0.89 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Jr. (1.57 kps, .224 att%, 0.80 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, So. (2.74 dps, 0.24 ace/set, 0.57 aps, .964 rec.%)
 
ARKANSAS INAUGURATION: The Seawolves will make their program's first ever trip to the state of Arkansas this weekend as they conclude their 2023 non-conference slate with four out-of-region matches at the Reddie-Tiger Invitational in Arkadelphia, Ark. ... UAA will face Union – its first ever match against a team from Tennessee ­­– to kick things off on Saturday, followed by Arkansas foes Ouachita Baptist, Arkansas Monticello and Henderson State ... the Seawolves have only played one of their four opponents previously, beating Ouachita Baptist 3-0 in 1999.
 
FEELIN' BLUE: The Seawolves' lone senior and Preseason All-GNAC pick, OH Nicole Blue has gotten off to a fast start, ranking 6th in the GNAC with 3.60 points per set, 7th with 2.89 kills per set, 3rd in aces (0.52) and 11th in digs (2.93) ... the team's most experienced all-rotation player, Blue started the season with four double-doubles (the first of her career) in the first five matches, including 15 kills and a career-high 23 digs in the win over Hawaii Hilo ... Blue collected four of the top five kills totals of her career on opening weekend to earn GNAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, pounding 19 against Hilo and 18 against Chaminade, and she served a career-best 5 aces in the 3-1 victory over Florida Tech.
 
KILLER 'E's: UAA's two veterans 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 1.69 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 a career-high 11 kills on .550 hitting to power the 3-2 comeback win over Upper Iowa, and a career-best 3 aces in the win over Florida Tech.
 
GOT YER BACK: The Seawolves have one of the top back-row combos in the West Region this year as Jr. L/DS Reilly Plumhoff and So. L/DS Madison Galloway are combining for 6.00 digs per set and a .950+ reception percentage ... currently 9th in the GNAC stats with 3.26 dps, Plumhoff collected Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament honors and followed with a career-high 21 digs in the road sweep of Alaska Fairbanks ... 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 59 ... meanwhile, Galloway has recorded double-digit digs in six of 12 matches, including the two highest totals of her career last week with 20 against Lander and 18 against Stanislaus State ... the Floridian owns a team-best .964 serve reception rate and has committed just five service errors in 163 tries this year for a team-best .969 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 6.11 assists per set (6th in GNAC) thus far, while also managing 2.39 digs per set ... the Oahu native dished a career-high 44 assists on opening day against Hawaii Hilo and had a career-high 15 digs in the rematch victory over the Vulcans ... another former local star at Dimond High, Osborne made her home debut with 20 assists, 3 kills and 2 block assists to aid the victory over Upper Iowa, and had 14 assists, and season bests of 5 digs and 5 block assists against 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 at least four kills in all 12 matches, including six double-digit efforts ... UAA's second-leading kills producer with 2.30 kps, she had 14 on .355 hitting to power the win over Upper Iowa and has connected at .260+ in eight of 12 outings.
 
TEAM NOTES: 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 3-1 last week, the Seawolves are now 97-20 at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 144-32 (.818) at home since 2009 ... with the loss to St. Cloud State, the Seawolves are now 25-19 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
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
MAKANA ELENEKI
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
REILLY PLUMHOFF
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team