Volleyball alumni dig the annual alumni game

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They showed up 15 strong, boldly wearing green-and-gold t-shirts that boasted of their undefeated season. Sure, they only played one game all year, but a winning season is a winning season.

That's right, UAA volleyball alumni beat last year's current team (and future GNAC champions) in the annual alumni exhibition game. Sure, the 2015 team was missing some star players, but again, a victory is a victory. Celebratory t-shirts were in order.

Alas, a repeat victory wasn't in the cards at this year's alumni game on Aug. 20, as the 2016 Seawolves won all five games in the best-of-five match.

But the alumni didn't care too much about breaking their one-game winning streak. They're happy to play Washington Generals to the current squad's Harlem Globetrotters. What's most important is simply being a part of a growing tradition.

This year's alumni team boasted last year's "undefeated" one-game season on their shirts. (Photo by Phil Hall / University of Alaska Anchorage)

"A really special year"

The alumni game has been an annual event every season since Coach Chris Green arrived in 2008, but this year marked a turning point in the game's stability and solidity.

Stacie Meisner, B.A. '11, M.A. '15. has helped organize the alumni game since 2009. (Photo by Phil Hall / University of Alaska Anchorage)

"It's been really interesting to see the evolution the game has gone through," said Stacie Meisner, B.A. '11, M.A. '15. After her playing days, Stacie stayed on as a graduate assistant coach and she recalls scrounging for alumni participants, along with fellow coach and former athlete Calli Scott. The two of them leaned heavily on their former teammates from the late 2000s to fill the roster for the alumni game. Sometimes, they even brought in ringers who hadn't played for UAA (gasp!)

That's not a problem anymore. Stacie and Calli met more and more alumni simply through playing in local Anchorage volleyball leagues (it helps that volleyball has long enjoyed a steady stream of hometown talent; seven of 12 on last year's roster came from Alaska). And on the younger side, each year brought a fresh class of graduating seniors who knew of the alumni game from their four years on the other side of the net. The game became, as Stacie put it, "a rite of passage" for graduating seniors. Now, alumni know what to expect... a season-opening exhibition match on the court at the Alaska Airlines Center each August.

"This year was a really special year," Stacie said of the 2016 match and its stacked roster. "We had 13 people who were able to play, along with three or four people who came and sat on the bench as coaches." In a true show of the game's durability, two alumni even flew from out of state for the game (including Diana Gordon, B.A. '05, M.Ed. '08, who now plays pro beach volleyball in Florida).

Behind the scenes tour

Though camaraderie is a big draw for the alumni competitors, the chance to play in the Alaska Airlines Center can't be overlooked. Though it opened in 2014, the arena is still new to many grads. Alumni athletes who played at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex remember not just sharing a locker room with other teams, but even individual lockers with other athletes. To show off the new venue's sweet training facilities to the returning players, Associate Athletic Director Tlisa Northcutt, B.A. '95, provided a behind-the-scenes tour before the alumni suited up for the game.

"It's amazing, I can't think of a better venue in Division II volleyball any one would want to play in," Stacie said of the arena. "[The Wells Fargo] was a really fun place to play as well, but in a different sort of way. The Alaska Airlines Center is just in a class of its own. For the alumni game ... it just adds another element of fun to the game for everybody."

The alumni team huddles up during the alumni game on Aug. 20. (Photo by Phil Hall / University of Alaska Anchorage)

Preseason power

On the surface, the exhibition game seems like a fun evening to get the current team back in gear and the former team back in touch. But it's much more than that.

Katelynn Zanders, last year's GNAC Player of the Year, faced off against her former teammates from the alumni side of the net this year. (Photo by Phil Hall / University of Alaska Anchorage)

"I think the connection the current team has with the past members is very important," said Coach Green of the program's strong alumni connection. "We have had preseason meals prepared by some past alumni, and it is great to hear and see them, not just for me as the past coach, but also for the current players who know that we are truly a family at UAA volleyball ... it's special for me to see many ex-players still on the court and willing to come back and participate in this."

"I think that alumni connection is so important," agreed Stacie (who hosts one of those preseason dinners in her home). "When we turn around and give back to the current program, it really shows how important our time at UAA was to us."

"The alumni game has become this really fun annual event which I think a lot of people, especially volleyball alumni, really look forward to," she added. "It's just a great way to kick off the season [and] it's been really fun to see how that game has grown and evolved over the years."

Through those preseason dinners and alumni games, former athletes like Stacie can easily stay connected to both their college days and to the current team. And though many local alumni will cheer from the stands all season long, it's certainly special to have one night back on the court to start the season.

Even if they did lose 5-0.