THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Sept. 19 — 6 pm ADT — SFU West Gymnasium — Burnaby, BC
Alaska Anchorage (6-4, 0-0 GNAC) at Simon Fraser (4-3, 0-0 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Sept. 21 — 6 pm ADT — Carver Gymnasium — Bellingham, WA
Alaska Anchorage at Western Washington (1-5, 0-0 GNAC [Thu. vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Thursday: youtube.com/watch?v=c6J3TZPEi1Y
                       Saturday: youtube.com/@WWUVikingsAthletics
LIVE STATS: Thursday: athletics.sfu.ca/sidearmstats/wvball
                       Saturday: wwuvikings.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Sr. (4.97 aps, 1.81 dps, 0.51 ace/set)
RS—Larssen Anderson, 6-0, Jr. (2.22 kps, .265 att%, 0.32 ace/set, 0.46 bps)
OH—Katie Birtcil-Tipton, 6-0, Sr. (1.91 kps, .130 att%, 2.45 dps)
OH—Tia Allen, 5-11, Jr. (2.11 kps, .188 att%, 2.51 dps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, Sr. (2.22 kps, .216 att%, 0.59 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Sr. (1.40 kps, .221 att%, 1.03 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (3.78 dps, 1.00 aps, .936 rec%)
 
GNAC'S BACK: The Alaska Anchorage volleyball team gets the 18-match Great Northwest Athletic Conference season under way this week with road matches at border rivals Simon Fraser and Western Washington ... both matches begin at 6 pm ADT ... the Seawolves have won 11 straight GNAC openers and 10 straight GNAC road openers.
 
THE SERIES...
vs SFU: UAA leads 20-6 overall, 10-3 in Burnaby
Last: SFU 3-1 (10/19/23 at UAA) / Streak: SFU 3
Notes: SFU is working on its first winning streak in series history after sweeping last year's meetings for the first time ... SFU has won four the last five, and the series is split 6-6 since 2017 ... UAA's last win in Burnaby came in four sets, Nov. 16, 2019 ... 10 of the last 13 meetings have gone four or five sets ... SFU joined the GNAC in 2010.
 
vs WWU: WWU leads 40-21 overall, 16-8 in Bellingham
Last: WWU 3-0 (10/21/23 at UAA) / Streak: WWU 2
Notes: The teams have not split the regular-season series since 2016, with WWU sweeping last year's meetings ... UAA's last victory came in four sets, Oct. 22, 2002 in Bellingham ... 11 of the last 14 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 six 5-setters and only four sweeps among the last 22 meetings ... the road team has won 15 of the last 24 meetings ... WWU won 17 straight from 2001-08 … teams have met every year since 2000 … series started in 1980.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Picked fourth in the GNAC preseason poll and currently the only GNAC team receiving votes in the national poll, Simon Fraser starts league play on the heels of a 3-0 upset of No. 16 CSU San Bernardino last week in Ellensburg ... the Red Leafs have suffered two of their three losses in five sets, including against defending national champ CSULA last week ... SFU is led by Sr.
RS Brooke Dexter (3.77 kps, .266 att%, 1.81 dps, 0.50 bps) and Jr. OH Davida Hill (2.92 kps, .289 att%, 1.96 dps) ... picked third in the GNAC preseason poll, Western Washington has dropped five in a row since a 3-0 win over Sonoma State in the season opener ... four of the Vikings' five losses have come against nationally ranked teams ... WWU is led by So. OH Delaney Speer (2.44 kps, .102 att%, 2.38 dps) and Jr. OH Devyn Oestreich (2.13 kps, .178 att%, 3.13 dps, 0.60 bps).
 
ROCKIN' THE ICE BLOCK: The Seawolves finished the non-conference season last week by going 3-0 against first-time, East Coast opponents at the Denali State Bank Ice Block Classic in Fairbanks ... on Thursday, Jr. RS Larssen Anderson had 10 kills on career-high-tying .533 hitting and Sr. OH and all-tourney selection Bethany Tuchardt ripped 10 kills on .333 hitting in a 25-21, 25-14, 25-7 drubbing of Felician ... on Friday, Jr. OH Tia Allen powered a 23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-14 victory over Slippery Rocky with 15 kills, 14 digs and 19-of-19 serve receiving ... Jr. L Madison Galloway made a career-high 26 digs and tied her career-high 7 assists, while So. MB Bella Burney delivered 8 kills on .368 hitting and a career-high-tying 6 blocks ... in the finale, Sr. S Kadyn Osborne's flawless effort (16 assists, 6 aces, 5 digs, 2 kills on 2 attacks, no errors) as UAA outhit UNC Pembroke .364 to .033 in a 25-12, 25-16, 25-11 whitewashing ... Sr. OH Katie Birtcil-Tipton had 8 kills and 13 digs, and Sr. OH Leilani Elder added 5 kills on .455 hitting and 5 block assists.
 
'WOLF BITES: After missing the majority of last season with a wrist injury and taking a redshirt, Jr. RS Larssen Anderson has made a solid return, earning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for her effort in Hawaii and currently ranking 9th in the league with a .265 attack pct. .... the former Dimond High star has hit better than .300 in four matches thus far, including a .357 effort for a career-high 14 kills in the win at Augustana ... 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 20 in both block assists (15th, 209) and total blocks (16th, 234) ... Elder tied her career high with 11 kills on .400 hitting to key the victory over Augustana, and currently ranks 4th in the GNAC with 1.03 bps ... Jr. L Madison Galloway ranks 5th in the GNAC with 3.78 digs per set, producing double figures in nine of 10 matches ... Galloway recorded 5.20 dps as UAA went 3-0 in Fairbanks last week, while collecting just her third career kills in the win over UNC Pembroke ... Jr. OH Tia Allen leads UAA with two double-doubles and its coming off her best week with 2.80 kps on .254 hitting and 2.70 dps at the Ice Block Classic ... after posting 15 kills and 14 digs in the win over Slippery Rock, Allen now ranks 15th in the GNAC with 2.51 dps ... Sr. S Kadyn Osborne ranks 8th in the league with 4.97 assists per set, sharing time with Fr. S Hannah Trotter in UAA's 6-2 offensive system ... Osborne also ranks 3rd with 0.51 aces per set after her 6 aces against UNC Pembroke tied for third-best on UAA's single-match list.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the GNAC with a .149 opponent attack percentage, having held its last three opponents under .100 ... 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 ... UAA's 2024 records of 16-17 overall and 8-10 GNAC came agonizing close, but the program's strings of 15 straight winning seasons and 14 straight winning conference records were halted in 2023 ... the GNAC champions in 2022, UAA also saw a streak of 14 straight top-4 GNAC finishes come to an end ... the Seawolves are 102-24 (.810) at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 149-36 (.800) at home since 2009.
 
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