THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Nov. 7 — 6 pm AST — Nicholson Pavilion — Ellensburg, Wash.
Alaska Anchorage (13-10, 7-6 GNAC) at Central Washington (12-6, 10-2 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Nov. 9 — 11 am AST — Johnson Sports Center — Nampa, Idaho
Alaska Anchorage at Northwest Nazarene (7-13, 4-8 GNAC [Thu. vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Thursday – youtube.com/@CWUAthletics
                       Saturday – youtube.com/live/Z93MFRPSEX0
 
LIVE STATS: Thursday – wildcatsports.com/sidearmstats/wvball
                       Saturday – nnusports.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Sr. (5.19 aps, 2.29 dps, 0.38 ace/set)
RS—Larssen Anderson, 6-0, Jr. (2.11 kps, .218 att%, 0.47 bps)
OH—Katie Birtcil, 6-0, Sr. (2.24 kps, .144 att%, 2.91 dps, 0.36 ace/set)
OH—Tia Allen, 5-11, Jr. (2.25 kps, .204 att%, 2.92 dps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, Sr. (2.19 kps, .221 att%, 0.57 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Sr. (1.54 kps, .207 att%, 1.11 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (4.01 dps, 1.11 aps, .937 rec%)
 
ROAD FINALES AWAIT: The Alaska Anchorage volleyball team completes the road portion of its 2024 season with matches this week at Central Washington (Thur., 6 pm AST) and Northwest Nazarene (Sat., 11 am AST) ... the Seawolves enter the week in fifth place in the GNAC standings with five matches remaining.
 
THE SERIES...
vs CWU: UAA leads 31-25 overall, trails 14-13 in Ellensburg
Last: CWU 3-1 (10/12/24 at UAA) / Streak: CWU 3
Notes: Teams have split the last six meetings in Ellensburg, with CWU winning 3-1 there last season ... of the 32 meetings since 2008, 11 have gone 5 sets and nine have gone 4 sets, with the Seawolves winning 16 of those 20 contests ... CWU leads 23-22 in GNAC matches (since 2001) … teams have met every season since 1999 ... first meeting was a 2-1 UAA neutral-court win in 1980 ... teams did not play between 1983-98.
 
vs NNU: UAA leads 27-20 overall, trails 14-9 in Nampa
Last: UAA 3-1 (10/10/24 at UAA) / Streak: UAA 1
Notes: NNU snapped a 10-match losing streak with last year's 3-2 win in Nampa ... UAA has won 14 of the last 17 meetings ... the last six meetings have gone at least four sets ... 15 of the last 17 and 25 of the last 29 matches have been 4- or 5-setters ... UAA leads 26-19 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) … NNU won first meeting in 2000, 3-1, in Nampa.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Half a match behind Simon Fraser for the GNAC lead, Central Washington has suffered its league setbacks at Seattle Pacific and at home against SFU ... the Wildcats are led by Marianna Payne (3.30 kps, .213 att%) and Emma Daoud-Hebert (2.24 kps, GNAC-best .446 att%, 1.03 bps) ... Northwest Nazarene enters the week in 8th place, having dropped four of its last five ... the Nighthawks are led by Maren Machado (2.75 kps, .205 att%, 3.52 dps, 0.43 ace/set) and Lily Kinloch (2.56 kps, .201 att%).
 
SWEET SWEEPS: The Seawolves ran their winning streak to three matches (all sweeps) with victories last week over Seattle Pacific (25-19, 25-20, 26-24) and Montana State Billings (25-17, 25-9, 25-20) at the Alaska Airlines Center ...  on Thursday, Jr. OH Tia Allen delivered 10 kills and 9 digs to propel a defensive-minded win over the defending GNAC champs ... Sr. OH Katie Birtcil added 8 kills and 12 digs, and Jr. L Madison Galloway had 15 digs as UAA outhit SPU .148 to .100 ... on Saturday, UAA made it 12 straight wins over MSUB behind 10 kills on .429 hitting from Jr. OH/RS Larssen Anderson ... Galloway collected 16 digs, Sr. S Kadyn Osborne dished 19 assists, and Fr. S Hannah Trotter had 10 assists, 11 digs and a career-high-tying 4 aces as the Seawolves registered a season-best .000 opponent attack percentage.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA is no lower than 6th in all seven of the GNAC's major stats categories, including second in aces (1.99) and digs (16.20) per set, and third in opponent attack pct (.179) ... 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, 258) and ranks 14th in total blocks (290) ... 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 3rd in the GNAC with 1.11 bps ... Jr. L Madison Galloway ranks 5th in the GNAC with 4.01 digs per set, producing double figures in 20 of 23 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-kill/14-dig effort to lead the win over Slippery Rock ... Allen ranks 13th in the GNAC with 2.92 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 5.19 assists per set, sharing time with Fr. S Hannah Trotter in UAA's 6-2 offensive system ... Osborne also ranks 12th 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 (9th, 0.41) and Sr. OH Katie Birtcil (15th, 0.36) give UAA three of the top 15 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 1,039 ... other Seawolves among the GNAC stats leaders include Birtcil at 14th in digs (2.91 dps) and So. MB/RS Bella Burney at 15th in attack pct. (.246).
 
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