PORTLAND, Ore. (Oct. 12) – Alaska Anchorage senior
Bella Burney was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball defensive player of the week Monday after helping her team to a pair of road victories.
The middle blocker posted 1.17 blocks per set, along with a dominant offensive performance, as the Seawolves swept Western Oregon in Monmouth and Saint Martin's in Olympia.
On Thursday, the Tumwater, Wash., native posted four blocks and 10 kills on .409 hitting to help UAA overcome WOU 25-16, 25-23, 26-24. Playing just 15 minutes from her former high school gym on Saturday, Burney produced three blocks and 12 kills on .579 hitting, spearheading a 25-19, 25-23, 25-20 win over the Saints. Her .488 attack percentage was the highest by any GNAC player who competed in two contests last week.
"Bella came up with big blocks when the team needed them most, slowing down opposing middles and allowing us to focus more on defending the pins," said UAA head coach
Morgan Hooe. "Bella's ability to make key defensive plays helped shift momentum in our favor and contributed to the success of the entire team."
This is the first career player-of-the-week honor for Burney and the second this season for a Seawolf, along with
Kyana Gabriel's offensive POW award from Aug. 31-Sept. 6.
The Seawolves (13-6, 6-3 GNAC) return to the Alaska Airlines Center this week for theme-night matches against Northwest Nazarene (Thur., 7 pm, Pink Night presented by Aurora Integrated Oncology Associates) and nationally ranked Central Washington (Sat., 7 pm, Pack the House 'Green Out' presented by Premera).
Promotions for both matches include:
Thursday
*Rally-towel and pom-pom giveaways
*Pink dance battle for an Alaska Airlines Atmos Gold membership
Saturday
*All general admission $5; reserved $8
*Best-dressed fans in green (one child, one adult) earn a chance to win a round-trip ticket on Alaska Airlines
*Foam fingers (first 1,000 attendees), Cherry Coke (first 500) and Raising Cane's (first 400) giveaways
*UAA Alumni Night (UAA alumni get one free ticket and up to three tickets for $5 each with code ALUMNI2627)
*UAA School of Education Night (UAA, ASD and MSBSD faculty and staff get one free ticket and up to three tickets for $5 each with code EDUCATOR2627)
