THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Nov. 21 — 11 am AST — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Western Washington (12-10, 11-5 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (14-12, 8-8 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Nov. 23 — 3 pm AST — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Simon Fraser (17-6, 13-3 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage (14-11, 8-7 GNAC)
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Sr. (5.20 aps, 2.31 dps, 0.37 ace/set)
PIN—Larssen Anderson, 6-0, Jr. (2.15 kps, .218 att%, 0.47 bps)
PIN—Katie Birtcil, 6-0, Sr. (2.27 kps, .145 att%, 2.99 dps, 0.36 ace/set)
PIN—Tia Allen, 5-11, Jr. (2.28 kps, .197 att%, 2.95 dps)
MB—Bella Burney, 6-0, Sr. (1.19 kps, .210 att%, 0.76 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Sr. (1.53 kps, .214 att%, 1.05 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (4.05 dps, 1.06 aps, .939 rec%)
 
SEASON FINALES: After playing in front of an NCAA-record crowd, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team concludes its 2024 season with two more matches this week at the Alaska Airlines Center, hosting Western Washington on Thursday (11 am) and Simon Fraser for 'senior night' on Saturday (3 pm) ... Thursday's match is themed 'ASD Digs Higher Education,' with the school district bussing in thousands of 5th-grade fans ... the match is still open to the public as usual ... UAA needs one victory in its last two contests to clinch a winning record, and two wins to clinch a winning GNAC record.
 
THE SERIES...
vs WWU: WWU leads 41-21 overall, 22-11 in Anchorage
Last: WWU 3-2 (9/21/24 at WWU) / Streak: WWU 3
Notes: WWU is looking for a second straight season sweep  ... UAA's last victory (3-1) was Oct. 22, 2022 (3-1) in Bellingham ... 12 of the last 15 matches have gone four or five sets, including UAA's NCAA Regional finals victory in 2016 and WWU's NCAA First Round victory in 2017 ... there have been seven 5-setters and only four sweeps among the last 23 meetings ... the road team has won 15 of the last 25 meetings ... WWU leads 7-3 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... WWU won 17 straight from 2001-08 … teams have met every year since 2000 … series started in 1980.
 
vs SFU: UAA leads 20-7 overall, 10-3 in Anchorage
Last: SFU 3-0 (9/19/24 at SFU) / Streak: SFU 4
Notes: SFU has won three of the last four meetings at the Alaska Airlines Center, including 3-1 last year ... UAA's last win (3-1) was Sept. 24, 2022 at home ... UAA won the first 15 matches in series history ... UAA leads 6-3 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... 10 of the last 14 meetings have gone four or five sets ... SFU joined the GNAC in 2010.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: With a 4-1 mark since Oct. 31, Western Washington heads into Thursday's contest at Alaska Fairbanks tied with the Nanooks for third place, and can finish no worse than tied for fourth place ... the Vikings are led by pin hitters Devyn Oestreich (2.76 kps, .238 att%, 3.65 dps, 0.51 ace/set) and Delaney Speer (2.56 kps, .140 att%, 3.22 dps) ... at No. 6 in the NCAA West Regional rankings prior to Saturday's home loss to Central Washington, second-place Simon Fraser comes into the weekend squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble ... the Red Leafs are led by Brooke Dexter (4.02 kps, .306 att%, 2.14 dps, 0.65 bps) and Davida Hill (3.15 kps, .257 att%, 2.30 dps).
 
FOR THE RECORD: Although they fell 25-18, 25-16, 26-24 to arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks in their last match, the Seawolves did it in front of an NCAA Div. II regular-season record attendance of 4,388 fans Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center ... Jr. RS Larssen Anderson had a match-high 10 kills on .500 hitting in the loss, while Jr. L Madison Galloway made an impressive 21 digs ... after earning the record with 3,888 fans for a Nov. 2022 match against Central Washington, UAA took back the record which was reset by Nebraska-Kearney with 4,003 fans for a match last year.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA is no lower than 7th in all seven of the GNAC's major stats categories, including second in aces (1.93) and digs per set (16.43) ... 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 104-27 (.794) at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 151-39 (.795) 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, 265) and ranks 14th in total blocks (297) ... 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 1.05 bps ... Jr. L Madison Galloway ranks 5th in the GNAC with 4.05 digs per set, producing double figures in 23 of 26 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 10 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 13th 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 (14th, 0.36) give UAA three of the top 15 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 1,067 ... Birtcil is also 12th in the GNAC with 2.99 dps.
 
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