THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Saturday, Nov. 16 — 7:30 pm AST — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Alaska Fairbanks (18-7, 10-5 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (14-11, 8-7 GNAC)
 
AK VOLLEYBALL DAY: In conjunction with the ASAA State Volleyball Championships, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team will host the inaugural Alaska Volleyball Day (presented by Marathon Petroleum) as it tries to reclaim the NCAA Div. II regular-season attendance mark, facing arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA is aiming for '4K4 In the Door' as the current record stands at 4,003 fans for a Nebraska-Kearney match in 2023 ... with the ASAA 4A title match set for 3 pm, UAA will welcome early-arriving fans for a pregame party in the Alaska Airlines Center auxiliary gymnasium, featuring games, prizes and giveaways, and free Coca-Cola.
 
TICKETS & PARKING: All tickets half price ($5) at GoSeawolves.com ... with the main lot expected to fill up, fans can park at the library or other campus lots, and have the opportunity to utilize the Seawolf Shuttle ... for fans attending the UAA hockey game, there will be free tickets and round-trip shuttle buses.
 
PROMOTIONS: Alaska Airlines round-trip tickets and GCI Apple Watch giveaways ... free Raising Cane's chicken to the first 404 fans ... free pom-poms (limit 1,000), free foam fingers (limit 500), free Seawolf hoodies to the first 150 UAA students, and more items at the pregame party.
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Sr. (5.20 aps, 2.34 dps, 0.38 ace/set)
PIN—Larssen Anderson, 6-0, Jr. (2.11 kps, .207 att%, 0.48 bps)
PIN—Katie Birtcil, 6-0, Sr. (2.28 kps, .155 att%, 2.99 dps, 0.36 ace/set)
PIN—Tia Allen, 5-11, Jr. (2.30 kps, .203 att%, 2.95 dps)
MB—Bella Burney, 6-0, Sr. (1.22 kps, .213 att%, 0.78 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Sr. (1.53 kps, .210 att%, 1.08 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (3.96 dps, 1.07 aps, .942 rec%)
 
HUGE HOMESTAND: Having clinched no worse than an .500 record with its win over Northwest Nazarene, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team closes the season with three matches at the Alaska Airlines Center, beginning with Saturday's showdown against Alaska Fairbanks ... UAA needs one victory in its last three contests to clinch at winning record, and two wins to clinch a winning GNAC record.
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 80-39 overall, 45-13 in Anchorage
Last: UAF 3-1 (10/17/24 at UAF) / Streak: UAF 1
Notes: UAF snapped a four-match losing streak with last month's win in Fairbanks ... UAA has won nine of the last 14 meetings, following a 16-match win streak from 2010-18 ... UAA is 13-1 at home against UAF since 2011, with the only loss coming in an empty Avis Alaska Sports Complex in the spring 2021 pandemic season ... UAA leads 9-0 at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014) ... UAA leads 32-13 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) ... teams have played at least twice per season since 1980.
 
A LOOK AT THE 'NOOKS: Just half a match behind Western Washington for third place and chasing an outside chance at an NCAA Tournament berth, Alaska Fairbanks comes south with 6-1 mark since Oct. 17, suffering its lone loss in five sets at Central Washington on Saturday ... the Nanooks are led by Karli Nielson (3.44 kps, .254 att%, 2.46 dps) and Rilee White (2.40 kps, .187 att%, 2.34 dps, 0.50 ace/set).
 
SATISFYING SPLIT: The Seawolves closed their road schedule with a 1-1 mark last week, falling to GNAC co-leader Central Washington (25-23, 25-19, 25-14) and defeating Northwest Nazarene (17-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-12, 16-14) ... in the first match, Jr. OH Tia Allen had 9 kills and 7 digs, but the Wildcats used a .202 to .068 hitting advantage to earn the shutout ... on Saturday, Sr. OH Katie Birtcil set or tied career highs with 15 kills, 23 digs and 5 total blocks to rally for a season sweep of the Nighthawks ... Allen had 13 kills and a season-high 19 digs, and Jr. PIN Larssen Anderson tied her career high with 14 kills, including match point.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA claimed the NCAA Div. II regular-season attendance mark with 3,888 fans for its match against Central Washington in 2022, before Nebraska-Kearney retook the record with 4,003 fans last season ... the Seawolves are within one win over clinching a winning record, and need two more wins to record a winning GNAC mark ... UAA is no lower than 6th in all seven of the GNAC's major stats categories, including second in aces (1.95) and digs per set (16.33) ... 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 in her final campaign, serving 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, 264) and ranks 14th in total blocks (296) ... 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 8th in the GNAC with 1.08 bps ... Jr. L Madison Galloway ranks 6th in the GNAC with 3.96 digs per set, producing double figures in 22 of 25 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 seven double-doubles, including a 15-kill/14-dig effort to lead the win over Slippery Rock, and a 13K/19D match at Northwest Nazarene ... Allen ranks 13th 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 nine 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 8th in the league with 5.20 assists per set, sharing time with Fr. S Hannah Trotter in UAA's 6-2 offensive system ... Osborne also ranks 11th with 0.38 aces per set, having tied the third-best UAA's single-match total with 6 aces in a sweep of UNC Pembroke ... Trotter (10th, 0.39) and Sr. OH Katie Birtcil (16th, 0.36) give UAA three of the top 16 in the GNAC aces stats ... a grad transfer from New Mexico State, Birtcil has six double-doubles thus far, spearheading the 3-1 home win over Saint Martin's (12K/15D) and the 3-2 road win over Northwest Nazarene (15K/23D) ... with 10 kills against UAF, Birtcil topped the career 1,000 mark in her time at NMSU and UAA, now standing at 1,061 ... other Seawolves among the GNAC stats leaders include Birtcil at 12th in digs (2.99 dps) and So. MB/RS Bella Burney at 18th in blocks per set (0.78).
 
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
GNAC All-Academic Team
Augustana Classic All-Tournament Team
LARSSEN ANDERSON
GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Aug. 25-31
BELLA BURNEY
GNAC All-Academic Team
MADISON GALLOWAY
GNAC All-Academic Team (4.00 GPA)
Augustana Classic All-Tournament Team
KADYN OSBORNE
GNAC All-Academic Team (4.00 GPA)
Augustana Classic All-Tournament Team
BETHANY TUCHARDT
GNAC All-Academic Team (4.00 GPA)
Ice Block Classic All-Tournament Team