Anchorage’s Reilly Plumhoff (left) celebrates with UAA teammates. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Goon Gallery
After a rocky start to the season the Seawolves have regained their footing, and it couldn’t have come at a better time with conference play starting Thursday.
Fourteenth-ranked UAA took care of business in the 3-day, 12-match Seawolf Invitational at the Alaska Airlines Center by going 3-1 with its lone loss coming against No. 7 St. Cloud State, which claimed the round-robin tournament title with a 4-0 record.
The Seawolves ended the tournament in style on Saturday by sweeping Cal Poly Humboldt in the afternoon and beating Florida Tech in four games in the nightcap, moving them to 4-4 overall after a 1-3 start.
UAA opens GNAC play Thursday at UAF in the 117th all-time meeting between the two Alaska college volleyball programs dating back to 1980.
Anchorage’s Reilly Plumhoff joined teammate Leilani Elder and UAF’s Ella Bines on the Seawolf Invitational all-tournament team. St. Cloud’s Kenzie Foley was named MOP.
Plumhoff was one of three former Dimond High standouts who made a difference for the Seawolves to get UAA back on track.
Plumhoff had a season-high five aces and 16 digs against Florida Tech while Anchorage’s Larssen Anderson matched her season high with 12 kills. Two days earlier, Anchorage’s Kadyn Osborne had bagged a season-high 20 assists in a win over Upper Iowa, including an assist that set up match point.
Larssen Anderson
The Lynx-to-Seawolf pipeline continues to flow success. It’s no coincidence; Dimond coach Kim Lauwers was the UAA bench boss from 1998 to 2004.
Plumhoff, a junior defensive specialist, is tied with teammate Nicole Blue for 10th in the GNAC at 3.06 digs per set.
For Plumhoff, that’s nearly twice what her career average (1.71) was entering the season. It now stands at 1.85.
She needs eight more aces to reach 100 for her career.
Anderson, a 5-foot-11 right-side hitter, is a first-year transfer out of Eastern Arizona College and has emerged as the top Alaskan hitter with 2.26 kills per set, which ranks third on the team.
Her hitting percentage needs some work (.174) but she has twice as many kills (70) as errors (33).
Anderson posted a season-high .385 attack percentage against Humboldt and has reached double figures four times in eight matches with the green and gold.
Kadyn Osborne
Osborne has provided UAA with depth at the setter spot as she plays behind starter Makena Eleneki, who is averaging 6.58 assists per set compared to Osborne’s 3.19.
Osborne bumped that average up to 3.53 at the Seawolf Invitational after reaching double figures in three of four matches.
Another transfer from Eastern Arizona, Osborne has played alongside Anderson in high school, junior college and now at UAA.