THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Oct. 31 — 7 pm ADT — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Seattle Pacific (6-13, 6-5 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (11-10, 5-6 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Nov. 2 — 7 pm ADT — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Montana State Billings (7-14, 0-11 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/UAASeawolves
 
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Sr. (5.14 aps, 2.28 dps, 0.37 ace/set)
RS—Larssen Anderson, 6-0, Jr. (2.07 kps, .221 att%, 0.49 bps)
OH—Katie Birtcil, 6-0, Sr. (2.22 kps, .135 att%, 2.93 dps, 0.35 ace/set)
OH—Tia Allen, 5-11, Jr. (2.21 kps, .200 att%, 2.95 dps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, Sr. (2.24 kps, .234 att%, 0.56 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Sr. (1.47 kps, .194 att%, 1.08 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (3.92 dps, 1.05 aps, .943 rec%)
 
HOME-LADEN HOMESTRETCH: The Alaska Anchorage volleyball team returns to the Alaska Airlines Center for a pair of matches this week as they finish the season with five of the last seven on their home court ... UAA is aiming to stay in contention for a top-half GNAC finish, hosting old rivals Seattle Pacific on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Montana State Billings on Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
THE SERIES...
vs SPU: UAA leads 34-32 overall, 17-14 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-1 (10/5/24 at SPU) / Streak: UAA 1
Notes: UAA is aiming for its ninth season sweep in the last 11 seasons ... teams have split the last six meetings since UAA took 16 of 17 between 2013-21 ... UAA is 7-2 against SPU at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014) ... UAA leads 28-17 in GNAC matches (since 2001) ... first meetings came in 1991 as members of the Pac West.
 
vs MSUB: UAA leads 58-11 overall, 28-5 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-0 (10/3/24 at MSUB) / Streak: UAA 11
Notes: The Seawolves have won 26 of the past 27 meetings, including seven straight sweeps since the pandemic ... UAA has five straight at home and is 8-1 against MSUB at the Alaska Airlines Center ... MSUB's lone win over the last decade was a 3-1 upset in UAA's 2017 home finale ... teams have not played a 5-setter since 2008 ... UAA leads 27-6 since MSUB joined the GNAC in 2007 ... MSUB is UAA's second-most common opponent, trailing only UAF … teams met twice per season every year from 1985-2000 as members of the Pac West.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Seattle Pacific brings the second-longest win streak (4) in the GNAC into Thursday's showdown, going 5-1 since Oct. 10 and suffering its lone loss at league-leading Simon Fraser ... the Falcons are led by Sydney Perry (2.43 kps, .185 att%) and Hannah Hair (1.99 kps, .325 att%, 1.49 bps) ... Montana State Billings heads into Thursday's match at UAF with losing streaks of 21 straight GNAC matches and 23 straight GNAC road matches ... the Yellowjackets are led by Jordan Taulua (2.99 kps, .116 att%, 0.42 bps) and Jahsita Fa'ali'i (2.63 kps, .102 att%, 2.73 dps).
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: It was the worst of times and the best of times on UAA's most recent road trip, suffering a sweep at the hands of Western Oregon (25-14, 25-20, 25-19) on Thursday before recording the program's best hitting percentage in five seasons in a Saturday shutout of Saint Martin's (25-20, 25-18, 25-22) ... in the first match, Sr. OH Bethany Tuchardt tied for match-high honors with 10 kills, but the Wolves outhit the visitors .271 to .036 as they swept the season series for the first time since 2012 ... two days later in Olympia, the Seawolves hit .432 (5th-best in the rally scoring era [since 2001]) behind 10 kills apiece from Sr. MB Leilani Elder and Sr. OH Katie Birtcil, sweeping the season series from the Saints ... Elder's .750 hitting (10-1-12) ranked No. 6 on the program's single-match list (since 2001), while Birtcil's .588 hitting was also her best as a Seawolf ... Jr. RS Larssen Anderson added 9 kills on .421 hitting, and Sr. S Kadyn Osborne had her best career three-set match with 27 assists.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA is no lower than 6th in all seven of the GNAC's major stats categories, including second in aces (1.90) and digs (16.05) per set ... the Seawolves tied a program mark by not allowing any blocks against UNC Pembroke, while the 19 digs allowed against Felician were UAA's second-fewest since 2019 ... the Seawolves are 25-23 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014, now with a six-match losing skid after their loss to Chaminade ... the Seawolves are 104-26 (.800) at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 151-38 (.799) at home since 2009.
 
'WOLF BITES: Sr. MB Leilani Elder is back for her final campaign as the Seawolves' lone fourth-year senior in 2024 ... the Kansas City native recently broke into UAA's career top 10 in block assists (10th, 250) and ranks 14th in total blocks (275) ... Elder tied her career high with 11 kills on .400 hitting to key the victory over Augustana, and her .750 (10-1-12) hitting at Saint Martin's ranked 6th-best for a Seawolf in the rally scoring era (since 2001) ... Elder currently ranks 4th in the GNAC with 1.08 bps ... Jr. L Madison Galloway ranks 6th in the GNAC with 3.92 digs per set, producing double figures in 18 of 21 matches ... Galloway is trying to become the first Seawolf since Taylor Noga in 2018 to average at least 4.00 dps ... Jr. OH Tia Allen leads UAA with six double-doubles, including a 15-kills/14-dig effort to lead the win over Slippery Rock ... Allen ranks 12th in the GNAC with 2.95 dps ... after missing the majority of last season with a wrist injury and redshirting, Jr. RS Larssen Anderson has made a solid return, earning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for her effort in Hawaii .... the former Dimond High star has hit better than .300 in eight matches thus far, including a .357 effort for a career-high 14 kills in the win at Augustana and .450 at MSUB ... Sr. S Kadyn Osborne ranks 9th in the league with 5.14 assists per set, sharing time with Fr. S Hannah Trotter in UAA's 6-2 offensive system ... Osborne also ranks 12th with 0.37 aces per set, having tied the third-best UAA's single-match total with 6 aces in a sweep of UNC Pembroke ... Trotter (10th, 0.38) and Sr. OH Katie Birtcil (16th, 0.35) give UAA three of the top 16 in the GNAC aces stats ... a grad transfer from New Mexico State, Birtcil has five double-doubles thus far, spearheading the 3-1 home win over Saint Martin's with 12 kills and 15 digs ... with 10 kills against UAF, Birtcil topped the career 1,000 mark in her time at NMSU and UAA, entering this week with 1,024 ... other Seawolves among the GNAC stats leaders include Birtcil at 13th in digs (2.93 dps), Sr. OH Bethany Tuchardt at 17th in attack pct. (.234) and So. MB Bella Burney at 18th in attack pct. (.232).
 
EYES ON MEISNER: After six seasons as the program's top assistant, former Seawolf standout Stacie Meisner returns for her second turn as UAA's head coach in 2024 ... 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.
 
2024 Individual Honors
TIA ALLEN
Augustana Classic All-Tournament Team
LARSSEN ANDERSON
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Aug. 25-31
MADISON GALLOWAY
Augustana Classic All-Tournament Team
KADYN OSBORNE
Augustana Classic All-Tournament Team
BETHANY TUCHARDT
Ice Block Classic All-Tournament Team