Hot-hitting Seawolves douse Lady Chaps in home opener

ANCHORAGE (Aug. 25) – Seniors Eve Stephens and Lisa Jaunet combined for 28 kills as the Alaska Anchorage volleyball team used red-hot hitting Thursday to cruise to a 25-12, 25-19, 25-14 sweep of Lubbock Christian in its home opener at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (4-0) got 18 kills on .533 hitting from Stephens and 10 kills on career-best .562 hitting from Jaunet to record the program’s fifth-best team attack percentage since 2000, finishing at .427. Senior setter Ellen Floyd piloted the offense with 43 assists and added three aces, while Nicole Blue and Isabel Evans each had six kills on .600-plus hitting.

Picked fourth of 17 teams in the Lone Star Conference’s preseason poll, the Lady Chaps (0-1) were led by eight kills from Kiana Fallaha in their season opener.

“That was another efficient offensive performance tonight,” said UAA coach Chris Green, whose team also won big in the digs (49-27) and blocks (6-2) categories. “There’s still room for improvement, but it was overall a great way to open in front of our home fans. We will have to refocus for two tough matches tomorrow.”

After sweeping all three of its opening matches in Hawaii last week, the Seawolves showed no signs of slowing their momentum, jumping to leads of 5-0 and 15-2 in the first set against the visitors from Texas.

An All-America rightside hitter from Palmer (Colony HS), Stephens blasted seven kills in the opening frame, while Floyd and senior libero Talia Leauanae combined for five of UAA’s 10 aces.

Lubbock Christian claimed an early 6-4 advantage in set 2 before Stephens gave UAA the lead for good with a kill and consecutive aces. Clinging to a 13-12 edge, Stephens ripped another kill to start a 5-0 run, which included a kill by Leilani Elder and another ace by Leauanae.

The Seawolves never trailed in the final set, hitting a whopping .655 (19 kills, 0 errors, 29 attacks) to close out the match, led by five kills on eight swings by Jaunet.

Five different Seawolves posted individual attack percentages above .500, including freshman middle blocker Emma Patterson, who notched three kills on four swings (.750) in the third set.

Freshman defensive specialist Madison Galloway tallied a match-high 12 digs, along with 10 from Leauanae.

UAA returns to action Friday with two more matches in the Seawolf Invitational – facing Emmanuel (Ga.) at 9:30 a.m. and West Region foe Point Loma at 7:30 p.m. Surf to GoSeawolves.com for tickets and live video and stats links.

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