THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Thursday, Sept. 26 — 7 pm ADT — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Saint Martin's (3-7, 1-1 GNAC) vs Alaska Anchorage (6-6, 0-2 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Sept. 28 — 7 pm ADT — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
Western Oregon (8-2, 1-1 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) vs Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/uaaseawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
PROMOTIONS/SPECIAL EVENTS: Thursday — free schedule poster giveaway ... Saturday — Pink Night, sponsored by Aurora Integrated Oncology Foundation ... fans can bid online to win special pink replica jerseys, featuring the name of their favorite Seawolf on the back; proceeds benefit UAA Volleyball and the American Cancer Society.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024 stats)
S—Kadyn Osborne, 5-10, Sr. (4.87 aps, 1.82 dps, 0.47 ace/set)
RS—Larssen Anderson, 6-0, Jr. (2.09 kps, .228 att%, 0.27 ace/set, 0.44 bps)
OH—Katie Birtcil-Tipton, 6-0, Sr. (1.98 kps, .116 att%, 2.37 dps)
OH—Tia Allen, 5-11, Jr. (2.13 kps, .188 att%, 2.53 dps)
OH—Bethany Tuchardt, 6-2, Sr. (2.09 kps, .204 att%, 0.53 bps)
MB—Leilani Elder, 5-10, Sr. (1.26 kps, .170 att%, 0.91 bps)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Jr. (3.80 dps, 0.93 aps, .938 rec%)
 
HOME? SWEET! After playing their first 12 matches away from the Alaska Airlines Center, the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team finally makes its regular-season home debut this week with matches against GNAC rivals Saint Martin's and Western Oregon ... the Seawolves have won 11 straight GNAC home openers since falling in five sets to Western Oregon in 2011.
 
THE SERIES...
vs SMU: UAA leads 42-5 overall, 21-1 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-1 (11/4/23 at UAA) / Streak: UAA 1
Notes: Last year's 3-1 loss in Lacey snapped win streaks of 29 overall and 15 on the road against the Saints ... has won 15 straight at home and is 9-0 against SMU at the Alaska Airlines Center ... the Seawolves have won 91 of 104 sets since 2008 ... teams have only played one 5-setter (2021 at SMU) in 47 meetings ... UAA leads 39-5 in GNAC matches (since 2001) ... teams played first two matches as Pac West Conference opponents in 1998 and 1999.
 
vs WOU: UAA leads 32-15 overall, 16-7 in Anchorage
Last: UAA 3-1 (11/2/23 at UAA) / Streak: UAA 21
Notes: The 21 straight victories are UAA's longest current streak against any opponent ... UAA has won nine straight at home, including all eight meetings at the Alaska Airlines Center ... WOU's last win was Oct. 20, 2012 at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex ... UAA leads 30-14 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) ... series started in 1981 but teams did not play again until 1999.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Picked ninth in the GNAC preseason poll, Saint Martin's has rebounded from a five-match skid to split its last four contests, including last week's league openers at home against Northwest Nazarene (W, 3-2) and Central Washington (L, 3-0) ... the Saints are led by Jr. OH Emmy Hansen (2.60 kps, .200 att%, 2.09 dps) Sr. MB Jennifer Soha (1.77 kps, .351 att%, 1.07 bps) ... picked eighth in the preseason poll, Western Oregon has been an early surprise with a 7-0 start, including victories over common opponents Hawaii Pacific (3-2) and Hawaii Hilo (3-2) ... also coming off a split with NNU and CWU, the Wolves are led by Madison Hornback (3.15 kps, .216 att%, 1.70 dps) and Bailee Hartsook (2.73 kps, .275 att%, 0.50 bps).
 
SEAWOLVES DROP GNAC OPENERS: The Seawolves started the Great Northwest Athletic Conference campaign last week with a pair of losses on perhaps the league's toughest road trip ... on Thursday, UAA battled to a 20-20 tie in the opening set before Simon Fraser ran away with a 25-21, 25-11, 25-14 victory in Burnaby ... Jr. OH Tia Allen and Sr. OH Katie Birtcil-Tipton had 7 kills apiece in the loss, while Jr. RS Larssen Anderson had 6 kills on .455 hitting ... on Saturday, Allen (11K/15D) and Birtcil-Tipton (11K/13D) each registered double-doubles, but Western Washington rallied back to defend homecourt, 22-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-9 ... Sr. S Kadyn Osborne finished with 24 assists and Jr. L Madison Galloway came just shy of her career high with 24 digs.
 
'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 15th in the league with a .228 attack pct. .... the former Dimond High star has hit better than .300 in five 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 (14th, 212) and total blocks (16th, 237) ... Elder tied her career high with 11 kills on .400 hitting to key the victory over Augustana, and currently ranks 12th in the GNAC with 1.03 bps ... Jr. L Madison Galloway ranks 5th in the GNAC with 3.80 digs per set, producing double figures in 10 of 12 matches ... Galloway recorded 5.20 dps as UAA went 3-0 in Fairbanks two weeks ago, collecting a career-high 26 digs to spearhead the win over Slippery Rock ... Jr. OH Tia Allen leads UAA with three double-doubles, producing her best week with 2.80 kps on .254 hitting and 2.70 dps at the Ice Block Classic ... facing her old team for the first time this week, Allen ranks 16th in the GNAC with 2.53 dps ... Sr. S Kadyn Osborne ranks 10th in the league with 4.87 assists per set, sharing time with Fr. S Hannah Trotter in UAA's 6-2 offensive system ... Osborne also ranks 7th 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 ranks third the GNAC with a .191 opponent attack percentage, having held four 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 ... 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