ANCHORAGE (Sept. 10) – Senior outside hitter
Lee Ivakina had 11 kills and 13 digs to lead another balanced attack for the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team Thursday in a 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 sweep of Seattle Pacific in the league opener at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Seawolves (8-3, 1-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 27 assists, 10 digs and three kills from senior setter
Hannah Trotter, successfully starting defense of their GNAC co-title and giving head coach
Morgan Hooe her first conference victory.
The Falcons (5-4, 0-1) got nine kills from outside hitter Amaya Evans and 16 digs from libero Christina Lopez, but were outhit .240 to .111.
"It was another great team effort tonight, with everyone stepping up to contribute," Hooe said. "Hannah did well again at distributing the ball to our attackers, and
Patri Ferran (5 kills) had a nice breakout match."
Looking for their fifth straight win over the Falcons, the Seawolves led virtually the entire first two sets. UAA led 9-7 in the first set before a Trotter kill sparked a deciding 7-0 run, which included a pair of aces by
Martina Riba (4 kills, career-high-tying 4 aces).
The Seawolves scored the first three points of set two and slowly stretched their lead, getting three kills apiece from Ivakina and senior middle blocker
Bella Burney.
SPU regrouped to make the third set closer, featuring 11 ties and seven lead changes, but UAA pulled away from a 16-16 deadlock thanks to a timely ace from Ivakina. Burney and Ivakina made it 23-19 and 24-20 with their final kills, and Riba delivered a first-ball kill on match point.
Ivakina earned her third double-double, while Burney finished with six kills on .556 hitting – her fourth time hitting at least .500 this season – and a pair of blocks.
Junior rightside hitter
Emma Beck added five kills on .385 hitting, and sophomore libero
Mary Nahinu had 11 digs, two assists and went 14-of-14 on serve receive.
The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center for a Saturday 7 pm contest against Montana State Billings (2-7, 0-1 GNAC). Find tickets, live links and more at GoSeawolves.com.
