THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
 
Friday, Oct. 31 — 7:30 pm ADT — Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, AK
#20 Alaska Fairbanks (18-3, 9-2 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (17-4, 8-3 GNAC)
 
LIVE VIDEO: All UAA home contests and GNAC road contests are streamed through the GNAC Network portal at Hudl – gnacnetwork.com/uaaseawolves ... fans can choose between a single event ($12), a 30-day subscription ($25) or a yearly subscription ($120).
 
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wvball
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
PROMOTIONS & SPECIAL EVENTS: Halloween costume contests ­– one for 'adults' (age 16+) and one for kids (15 and younger) ... kids are also invited to stay postmatch for a trick-or-treat and autograph session with the team.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2025 stats)
S—Hannah Trotter, 5-9, So. (7.81 aps, 2.64 dps, 0.64 kps, 0.40 bps)
  or­—Johana Malikova, 5-10, Fr. (7.43 aps, 2.50 dps, 0.30 ace/set)
OH—Lee Ivakina, 6-0, Jr. (3.00 kps, .204 att%, 3.08 dps, 0.49 bps)
OH—Tia Allen, 5-11, Sr. (3.04 kps, .195 att%, 3.41 dps, 0.32 ace/set)
RS—Emma Beck, 5-1, Fr. (2.24 kps, .212 att%, 0.91 bps)
MB—Bella Burney, 6-0, Jr. (1.72 kps, .284 att%, 1.05 bps)
MB—Martina Riba, 6-0, So. (1.62 kps, .247 att%, 1.14 bps, 0.28 ace/set)
L—Madison Galloway, 5-4, Sr. (4.07 dps, 0.85 aps, 0.32 ace/set, .953 rec%)
 
HIGH STAKES IN ALASKA RIVALRY: The Alaska Anchorage volleyball team begins a stretch with five of its last seven regular-season matches at the Alaska Airlines Center when it hosts arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks at 7:30 pm Friday ... the Seawolves and Nanooks are both in a five-way battle for the GNAC crown and a NCAA Tournament berth, with UAA desperate for a victory after losing to UAF earlier this month in Fairbanks.
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 80-41 overall, 45-14 in Anchorage
Last: UAF 3-1 (10/2/25 at UAF)
Streak: UAF 3
Notes: UAF's win streak is its longest since taking five in a row from 2006-08 ... UAF's 3-0 win on Nov. 16 last year was its first sweep in 59 all-time meetings in Anchorage ... UAA leads 9-1 at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014) ... UAA leads 32-15 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) ... teams have played at least twice per season since 1980.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Breaking into the national rankings for the first time in program history this month, No. 20 Alaska Fairbanks comes south with a four-match win streak and tied with Simon Fraser and Western Washington atop the GNAC standings ... the Nanooks are led by Sr. OH Mikala Henderson (2.90 kps, .253 att%, 2.80 dps) and Jr. L Tessa Onaga (GNAC-best 4.69 dps).
 
BY A WHISKER: UAA survived a pair of upset bids with 3-2 road victories last week over Saint Martin's (25-18, 25-17, 25-27, 19-25, 15-7) and Western Oregon (18-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-11) to stay within striking distance in the GNAC title race ... on Thursday in Lacey, Sr. OH Tia Allen had a career-high 23 kills on .447 hitting against her old team, while Olympia-area native Jr. MB Bella Burney tied her career high with 13 kills ... Jr. OH Lee Ivakina had 14 kills, 11 digs and 5 block assists as UAA outhit SMU .571 to .111 in the fifth set ... on Saturday, Allen had 17 kills, 12 digs and a career-high 7 assists to help UAA rally from a 14-10 fourth-set deficit at WOU ... Fr. RS Emma Beck ripped 11 kills on .393 hitting, Sr. L Madison Galloway made 22 digs, and So. S Hannah Trotter had 33 assists and a career-high 20 digs to help the Seawolves sweep the season series.
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves received 19 votes in this week's AVCA NCAA Div. II top-25 poll, putting them in 30th position ... UAA has clinched the program's 17th winning record in the last 18 seasons ... UAA's 13-1 mark equaled the program's second-best record after 14 matches, along with the 2016 and 2022 GNAC title squads ... the Seawolves rank top-100 (of 275 teams) nationally in every primary statistical category except kills per set (105th) ... UAA leads the GNAC defensively with 1.731blocks and 1.15 aces allowed per set ... UAA's 11 straight Alaska Airlines Center victories – from Nov. 21, 2024 to Sept. 27, 2025 – were the second-longest streak since the arena's opening in 2014 ... the Seawolves' 16 regular-season home matches this year are the most in 11 seasons of play at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA has finished top 10 nationally in average attendance every season since 2014, leading NCAA Div. II six times (2014, '15, '16, '17, '18, '24) and finishing second twice ... the Seawolves are 27-25 against AVCA Top 25 teams since 2014, including a 2-2 mark this year ... the Seawolves are 116-28 (.806) at the Alaska Airlines Center since the arena's opening in Sept. 2014, and 163-40 (.803) at home since 2009.
 
TIP-TOP TIA: An honorable mention All-GNAC performer as a junior at UAA in 2024 and as a sophomore at Saint Martin's in 2022, Sr. OH Tia Allen has produced double-doubles in 12 of 21 matches, including eight of 11 GNAC contests ... in the GNAC stats, Allen is 7th in kills (3.15 kps), 8th in points (3.61 pps) and 13th in digs (3.29 dps) ... the Clayton, Wash., native surpassed her collegiate career high with 23 kills last week at SMU, notching the most kills for a Seawolf since 2022 ... Allen is the 12th player in GNAC history (since 2001) to achieve career 1,000 marks in both kills (1,080) and digs (1,106), along with 100 aces (101) ... the Seawolves' representative on the GNAC Preseason All-Conference Team, Allen started the season with all-tournament honors at all three non-conference events, including the Most Outstanding Player award at the Seawolf Invitational.
 
MAD MONEY: UAA's lone fourth-year player, Sr. L Madison Galloway has risen to 6th in the GNAC stats with 4.04 digs per set, totaling double figures in 18 of 21 matches and 22-plus in four of the last five contests ... Galloway earned an all-tourney award and her first career GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honor after posting 4.24 dps and registering a .978 (88-of-90) serve-receive on opening weekend, and repeated her GNAC DPOW award with outstanding efforts at No. 20 WWU and No. 7 SFU (career-high 27 digs, 45-of-45 serve-receive) ... the Pensacola, Fla., native has also moved into 6th place on the UAA career digs list with 1,294, along with top-20 ranks in digs per set (16th, 3.13), sets played (16th, 414) and victories (15th, 76) ... Galloway has missed just one set her entire career, taking over as UAA's full-time libero last season.
 
LEAPIN' LEE: UAA has found a new full-rotation standout in Jr. OH Lee Ivakina (e-VOCK-in-ah), who premiered with all-tournament honors at both the Alaska/Hawaii Challenge and Seawolf Invitational ... from Bulgaria via Navarro (Texas) College, Ivakina has posted double-doubles in 12 of her first 21 NCAA matches, including a 15K/14D effort against Western Oregon and a 19K/16D line at No. 7 Simon Fraser ... Ivakina ranks 10th in the GNAC in kills (2.98 kps) and points (3.50 pps), and 18th in digs (3.00 dps).
 
'WOLF BITES: Jr. MB Bella Burney has been a consistent force at the net, ripping at least five kills in all but two contests ... the Tumwater, Wash., product leads UAA and ranks 10th in the GNAC stats with a .287 attack pct., while she's 9th in the league with 1.04 blocks per set ... So. Martina Riba was an all-tourney performer at the Seawolf Invitational and recorded plus-.400 attack percentages in both of UAA's non-conference wins in Fairbanks ... the Barcelona native has registered at least six kills in 16 matches, while hitting over .300 in eight of the last 13 contests ... Riba leads UAA and ranks 5th in the GNAC with 1.14 blocks per set, while she's 17th in attack percentage at .246 ... Fr. RS Emma Beck delivered UAA's best attack pct (min. 12 kills) since Sept. 15, 2023 with her .520 (14-1-25) effort against Biola, and bettered that with a .538 (8-1-13) mark at MSUB ... a former Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year from Kenai, Beck ranks 13th in the GNAC in blocks (0.87 bps), producing at least six kills in the last 14 matches ... So. S Hannah Trotter is 4th in the GNAC with 7.76 assists per set, while Fr. S Johana Malikova ranks 5th with 7.60 aps ... the Seawolves have found a new serving specialist in Jr. DS/OH Elena Hansen ... a transfer from Limestone, Hansen ranks 10th in the GNAC with 0.36 aces per set, while producing 1.64 digs per set as well.
 
EYES ON MEISNER: Former Seawolf standout Stacie Meisner is in her third turn as UAA's head coach in 2025 ... Meisner has piloted the Seawolves to a 49-33 record, including a 16-12 overall mark and 5th-place Great Northwest Athletic Conference finish 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.
 
2025 Individual Honors
TIA ALLEN
Preseason All-GNAC Team
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
Seawolf Invitational Most Outstanding Player
Ice Block Classic All-Tournament Team
MADISON GALLOWAY
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Aug. 25-31
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Oct. 6-12
LEE IVAKINA
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team
MARTINA RIBA
Seawolf Invitational All-Tournament Team