ANCHORAGE (Nov. 7) – Outside hitter
Lee Ivakina posted 11 kills and 11 digs and setter
Hannah Trotter dished 34 assists Saturday to propel the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to a 25-21, 25-22, 25-14 sweep of Western Oregon in its home finale at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Seawolves (19-7, 12-4 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 10 kills on .421 hitting from senior middle blocker
Bella Burney as they extended to a five-match win streak. With nine wins in the last 10 outings, UAA is now tied for third place with Seattle Pacific, who it will face in the regular-season finale Saturday in Seattle.
The Wolves (9-16, 5-12) got nine kills on .320 hitting from Katelyn Markley, but the rest of the visitors were held to .014 hitting and hurt by 10 service errors.
"We won a tough first set despite not hitting very well, but we continued to improve as the match wore on and got the job done against an opponent that was much more dangerous than their record suggests," said UAA head coach
Morgan Hooe. "Lee has been on fire hitting the ball lately, and it's great to see her and her teammates' confidence continue to grow as we head into a crucial final week."
After playing three five-setters and one four-setter in their last four outings, the Seawolves took control midway through the opening frame. Leading 16-15, UAA got a kill from
Emma Beck and a solo block by Ivakina during a 3-0 run, and Burney stretched it to 21-17 on a feed from Trotter. WOU rallied to get within 23-21 before the Seawolves claimed the opening set with another Beck kill and a double-block by her and
Martina Riba.
Despite a 19-16 advantage in the second, the Seawolves could not shake the Wolves until the very end, snapping a 22-22 tie on a kill from
Trinity Byrne, and winning it on a kill by Riba and an ace from Trotter.
The Seawolves cruised from there, hitting .423 in the final set as Burney connected on six of her seven swings.
Ivakina finished with .385 hitting on 26 attacks and claimed her 13th double-double with 11 digs as well.
Byrne had nine kills and Riba had five kills and two block assists, while sophomore
Mary Nahinu anchored the back row with 10 digs and three aces.
At No. 10 in the West Region power rankings before this week's two victories, the Seawolves head south for their final two regular-season contests, facing Montana State Billings on Thursday (5 pm AST) and Seattle Pacific on Saturday (noon AST). Find live links at GoSeawolves.com.
