HILO, Hawaii (Aug. 20) – Senior outside hitter
Lee Ivakina led a late comeback with 16 kills for Alaska Anchorage, but host Hawaii Hilo got a monster effort from Alohi Gilman to earn a 30-32, 25-13, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10 win Thursday night in the Alaska/Hawaii Challenge at Afook-Chinen Civic Arena.
UAA fell to 0-2 on opening day of the 2026 NCAA volleyball season as Chaminade prevailed 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 in the first match.
"It's a disappointing result for the day, but we played two very good teams and made strides in the second match," said UAA head coach
Morgan Hooe. "If we can play with the kind of fire we showed in the fourth set against Hilo, we will have success going forward."
The Seawolves got seven kills apiece from Ivakina and senior outside hitter
Kyana Gabriel in the opening set as the visitors finally prevailed after 15 ties and eight lead changes. Knotted 30-30, UAA took advantage of a wide serve by the Vulcans, and finished it with a feed from
Hannah Trotter (33 assists, 13 digs) to Gabriel for the kill. Playing her first matches as a Seawolf in her hometown, Gabriel collected her first double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs.
Despite being outplayed in the second and third sets and trailing 15-9 and 18-14 in the fourth, UAA rallied behind a balanced attack, getting kills from five different players during a 12-4, set-ending run.
UAA actually outhit Hilo .308 to .273 in the fifth set, but could not slow Gilman, who finished with 29 kills on 70 attacks, 12 digs, and went 45 of 45 in serve receive.
Junior rightside hitter
Emma Beck had nine kills for UAA, while senior middle blocker
Bella Burney had six kills and a team-high four block assists.
The Seawolves play just one match Friday, facing Hawaii Pacific (0-1) at 5 p.m. ADT. Find live video ($) and stats links at GoSeawolves.com.
MATCH 1: Chaminade 3, UAA 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-19)
Kyana Gabriel notched 10 kills on .318 hitting in her Seawolf debut, but the Silverswords got 14 kills from Lillie Hinton and outhit UAA .283 to .202, pulling away late in each set.
Bella Burney added eight kills on .500 hitting for UAA, coming off a 23-6 record and a four-way tie for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2025.
Senior setter
Hannah Trotter finished with 20 assists, three kills and nine digs, while junior setter
Anna McWhorter saw the first action of her career with five assists. Sophomore libero
Mary Nahinu debuted with nine digs and a pair of aces.
