ANCHORAGE (Sept. 24) – Outside hitter
Lee Ivakina had career bests of 25 kills and 24 assists and fellow senior
Hannah Trotter dished a career-high 64 assists Thursday to help the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to a thrilling 19-25, 29-27, 28-26, 21-25, 17-15 victory over Western Washington at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Seawolves (10-5, 3-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 19 kills and 16 digs from junior outside hitter
Kyana Gabriel as they outhit the visitors .226 to .181 and outdug them 105-88.
The Vikings (5-5, 2-2) were led by 25 kills and 16 digs from outside hitter Delaney Speers and 30 digs from defensive specialist Chayse Flick-Williams, but were unable to take advantage of a 15-3 advantage in service aces.
"It seems like it always goes down to the wire when we play Western, and tonight was another amazing match," said UAA head coach
Morgan Hooe. "We showed tremendous resiliency after we fell behind the fifth set, kept battling, and stayed focused on each rally. I think we regained a lot of confidence from our performance and can hopefully keep our energy high for a first-place team (Simon Fraser) coming in here on Saturday."
After dropping set one, the Seawolves corrected course with a 15-8 lead to start the second.
Emma Beck had one of her career-high-tying 14 kills to give UAA its largest edge, before the Vikings surged back to tie it at 19-19 and earn set point at 24-22 on a kill by Speer. Ivakina kept UAA alive with a kill and a solo block, though, and the teams went back-and-forth until 27-27. Trotter converted an out-of-system kill to take the lead for good, then fed Gabriel for the clincher moments later.
The third set followed an eerily similar pattern as UAA raced to 14-7 lead, only to see the Vikings tie it 21-21. Once again, the Seawolves fought off a pair of set points, getting kills from Gabriel to make it 24-24 and 26-26.
Martina Riba and Ivakina combined on a block to take the lead, and Ivakina smashed a kill to give the hosts the frame.
UAA appeared poised to end it in four sets when Gabriel made it a 19-15 lead with a kill, but the Vikings recovered to send it the distance with a 10-2 run. Speer had three kills and Flick-Williams a pair of her five aces during the surge.
The Seawolves led early in the fifth before the Vikings answered with a run and pulled ahead 12-9 on an attack error by Gabriel. Beck and Ivakina combined for three straight kills to force a 12-12 tie, but the WWU retook the lead on a Speer kill and went ahead 14-12 on Beck's attack error. Faced with double-match point, the Seawolves turned again to Ivakina to stay alive, and Riba would tie it with an ace. After trading points, Ivakina came through with her final kill to make it 16-15, and libero
Mary Nahinu finished the victory with a sneaky push attack that landed just inside the back corner for her lone kill of the night.
Ivakina equaled her career high in kills that came in last year's home match against the same team, while topping 20 digs for the first time. The Bulgarian hit a team-best .305 as well, plus three total blocks.
Meanwhile, Trotter crushed her previous career high by 16 assists, along with five kills and 19 digs – one shy of her career high.
Riba had seven kills, four blocks and a six digs, while Nahinu finished with 17 digs and five assists.
UAA also got a huge defensive lift from senior
Elena Hansen, whose 16 digs were her most in two seasons as a Seawolf.
The result marked the 15th time in the last 19 meetings that UAA and WWU have played at least four sets.
The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. to face No. 19 Simon Fraser (7-3, 4-0). Find tickets and live links at GoSeawolves.com.
