ANCHORAGE (Sept. 28) – Senior Nicole Blue had 13 kills and sophomore Sydney Johnson served a career-high six aces Thursday to help the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to a 25-15, 25-13, 25-15 sweep of Montana State Billings at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Playing their Great Northwest Athletic Conference home opener, the Seawolves (10-9, 2-2 GNAC) also got 10 kills on .400 hitting from junior Bethany Tuchardt and 15 digs from junior Reilly Plumhoff as they produced major advantages in attack percentage (.326 to -.036), digs (48-32) and blocks (7-3).

The Yellowjackets (2-13, 0-5) were led by eight kills on .200 hitting from outside hitter Bailey Nichols, but the rest of the visitors combined for only seven kills on -.096 hitting as their losing skid reached 12 matches.

"Our players were really excited to be back in front of the home crowd, and they responded with a solid effort," said UAA head coach Stacie Meisner, whose team hadn't played at the Alaska Airlines Center since Sept. 2. "We were able to keep their offense out of rhythm, and put them away with our own offensive execution."

The entire match featured only three tie scores and one lead change as UAA dominated throughout, also getting eight kills on match-best .467 hitting from freshman rightside hitter Bella Burney.

Plumhoff – a libero from Dimond High School – made 10 of her digs and Tuchardt blasted five kills on nine swings in the opening set to bolster the early lead.

Blue ripped six kills in the second frame and Johnson served half of her aces in the final set as UAA held the Billings under -.030 hitting in all three sets.

The Yellowjackets' -.036 hitting marked the ninth-best defensive mark for a Seawolf team since the NCAA went to rally scoring in 2001 and was the second-best by UAA in any GNAC match (also since 2001).

Junior setter Kadyn Osborne tallied career highs of 33 assists and 10 digs, while junior middle blocker Isabel Evans made a match-high five block assists.

The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center at 7 p.m. Saturday for a showdown with No. 24 Seattle Pacific (11-2, 5-0). Tickets and live video and stats links are available at GoSeawolves.com.

UAA Volleyball Top Negative Opponent Hitting Percentages (since 2001/GNAC & rally scoring era)
-.192 (7-21-73) vs Ohio Valley, 8/29/08
-.111 (15-24-81) vs Kentucky Wesleyan, 8/28/09
-.082 (13-18-61) vs Concord, 9/6/19
-.067 (15-21-89) vs Academy of Art, 9/1/12
-.067 (19-26-105) vs American International, 9/5/13
-.060 (17-22-83) vs MSU Billings, 9/24/15*
-.049 (22-26-81) vs Arkansas-Monticello, 9/16/23 (at Henderson St.)
-.040 (23-27-99) at Alaska Fairbanks, 9/7/23*
-.036 (15-18-83) vs MSU Billings, 9/28/23*
-.036 (13-15-56) vs West Virginia State, 9/7/01 (at Charleston, W.Va.)
*GNAC match