Eve Stephens
Palmer’s Eve Stephens was so locked in she barely remembers her record 33-kill performance for UAA.
Her fourth-set takeover was a blur, but she was clearly the deciding factor for the 9th-ranked Seawolves in a 25-12, 25-16, 21-25, 25-23 win over 10th-ranked Western Washington last weekend in Bellingham.
“To be honest, I don’t remember much about the fourth set,” she said. “I just swung away.”
When the dust settled from her fireworks show, Stephens had broken GNAC records for a four-set match in kills and points (35.5) while her kills were the most by a UAA player in any match since the NCAA moved to rally scoring in 2001.
The former Colony High standout was at her best in the fourth set when she finished with 12 kills, including a half dozen during an 8-2 rally that put the Seawolves ahead for good. She also slammed home match point.
Stephens had only two attack errors on 65 attempts and setter Ellen Floyd had 44 assists as UAA swept the regular-season series with Western Washington and improved to 22-2 on the season and 12-1 in the GNAC.
UAA’s Eve Stephens of Palmer. Photo by Eric Becker/WWU Athletics
“It was an incredible match by Eve, and I think Ellen did her usual great job of getting her and all of her teammates involved with quality looks for those kills,” said UAA coach Chris Green.
We’ve come to expect big things from Stephens, the all-time kills leader (1,817) in UAA and GNAC history with a record 13 conference player-of-the-week honors.
But even by Stephens’ record-breaking standards, this performance stood out.
The top-10 tilt between nationally ranked teams would determine first place in the GNAC and the Seawolves came out swinging, winning the first two sets by a combined score of 50-28.
Nobody does that to Western Washington at Carver Gym, where the Vikings came into the match against UAA riding a three-year, 31-game home winning streak and had gone 62-1 in the building since 2017.
The funny thing is Stephens hadn’t even really heated up yet. She had a modest nine kills across the first two sets before catching fire with a sizzling performance over the third and fourth sets with 12 kills in each frame.
PALMER POWERHOUSE
Eve Stephens’ Top Attack Percentages in 2022
.586 – vs. Pittsburg State
.565 – vs. Seattle Pacific
.542 – vs. Hawaii Pacific
.538 – vs. MSU-Billings
.533 – vs. Lubbock Christian
.528 – vs. Findlay
.500 – vs. Emmanuel
.477 – vs. #10 WWU
“I just really felt that the best way to help my teammates was to be in position to get the kills and I give huge credit to our defense and Ellen for putting up really great balls so I could put them away,” she said.
In the third set, Stephens supplied 12 of her team’s 21 points, including streaks of five and six straight. Western Washington won the set, however, after ending with a 14-7 run.
The Vikings seized command in the fourth set and surged to leads of 4-0, 13-7 and 16-11. They looked poised to force a fifth set, but the Seawolves weren’t having it.
“In that fourth set things were feeling really close and I kind of looked at Ellen across the court, like, ‘It’s now or never,’” Stephens said, “because I didn’t feel like going to a fifth set. I was pretty tired.”
The 6-foot-1 right-side hitter hammered six kills during UAA’s 8-1 run that put the Seawolves ahead 19-17. Another Stephens kill gave UAA a 22-20 lead and her final blast of the night ended the match.
“Luckily it went my way that fourth set. I give huge credit to Ellen because I couldn’t have done it without her,” Stephens said.
Her 33 kills were UAA’s most in the rally-scoring era, breaking the previous school record of 32 set by Rhea Cardwell in 2008.
Photo by Skip Hickey/UAA Athletics
The old GNAC record for kills in a four-set match was 32 by Seattle Pacific’s Alyssa Given (on 86 attacks, 21 more than Stephens) in 2006. The old GNAC record for points in a four-set match was 34.5 by Saint Martin’s Alicia Denny in the league’s inaugural season in 2001.
“Ellen putting up really good sets for me, I was able to swing all these different types of shots,” Stephens said. “And having the confidence from the first two sets, I wasn’t scared. I was just going out there and putting the ball away.”
UAA’s win at Western Washington came two days after a four-set loss at Simon Fraser which snapped the team’s 13-game winning streak.
“All these teams really want to beat us,” Stephens said. “Coach Green said in the locker room that great teams find a way to bounce back. It’s not what happened but how you respond to the loss.”
“I think we came out ready to go at Western. They have a record winning streak. I think that loss at Simon Fraser really fueled us to come out strong.”
Now the Seawolves want to finish strong. They have five matches left in the regular season, starting with Saturday afternoon’s home match with UAF at the Alaska Airlines Center.
“I’m looking for us just to have fun and not forget why we all play volleyball and not forget who we are as a team and what we’re doing it for. We’re playing for each other at the end of the day,” Stephens said. “I think every game we want to have fun because I think that’s when we play our best.”