Seawolves sink Sharks for season-opening sweep
by UAA Athletics |
HONOLULU (Aug. 19) – Senior Eve Stephens blasted 14 kills and sophomore Nicole Blue delivered a career-best hitting performance Friday to power Alaska Anchorage to a
25-18, 25-14, 25-12 volleyball sweep of Hawaii Pacific in its season opener at The
Shark Tank.
The Seawolves also got 32 assists, seven digs and three kills from senior setter Ellen Floyd as they dominated the hosts, outhitting them .402 to .155 and outdigging them 38-28.
Picked for third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches’ poll,
the Seawolves started strong and never trailed at any point in the match.
Stephens and fellow senior pin-hitter Lisa Jaunet tallied five kills apiece in the opening set to help UAA slowly extend its lead and
claim set point on a block by Stephens and sophomore Leilani Elder.
Tied 7-7 in set 2, freshman middle blocker Emma Patterson started a 6-0 run with her first career kill. The Seawolves finished with a 5-0 run,
capped by Reilly Plumhoff’s ace.
Sophomore middle blocker Isabel Evans – a transfer from Williston State (N.D.) College – ripped four of her six kills in
the third set as the Seawolves hit .448 in the final frame.
A two-time AVCA All-American, Stephens committed just one attack error and hit .542
for the match, along with five digs.
Blue recorded nine kills on career-best .571 hitting, also committing just a single
error, while adding five digs and 12-of-12 serve-receive numbers.
Evans finished with a match-best .600 hitting percentage, along with three blocks
assists in her Seawolf debut.
Senior libero Talia Leauanae led UAA with 11 digs, moving into 10th place on the program’s all-time list with
1,049 career digs.
The Seawolves finish their short Oahu trip Saturday with a pair of matches. UAA faces
Hawaii Hilo in a noon ADT neutral-court clash at The Shark Tank, then travels crosstown
to challenge No. 25 Chaminade at 5 p.m. ADT at McCabe Gymnasium.
Surf to GoSeawolves.com for live links and schedule information.
"Seawolves sink Sharks for season-opening sweep" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.