Lee Ivakina had 25 kills, the most for a UAA player since 2022. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
The UAA volleyball team on Saturday picked up its fourth win over a nationally ranked team this year, although this one might be the best of the bunch. And that’s saying a lot since they just beat No. 8 Simon Fraser two days ago.
The Seawolves defeated No. 14 Western Washington 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 34-32 at the Alaska Airlines Center after pulling out a marathon fourth set that featured a combined 66 points, the most for UAA since 25-point rally scoring came into effect in 2008.
“Even when Western made its comeback to send the fourth to extra points, our team continued to show its grit and pulled out an amazing victory,” said UAA coach Stacie Meisner, whose team improved to 4-3 against nationally ranked opponents.
Lee Ivakina ripped 25 kills, Tia Allen posted 15 kills and 18 digs while Martina Riba furnished a career-high 10 blocks. UAA outhit the visitors .253 to .158 and outblocked them 12-6.
Ivakina notched seven kills on .500 hitting to help UAA defend a healthy lead throughout the third set as the Seawolves took a two-games-to-one lead.
In the fourth, with the match tied 32-32 after Western fought off five match points, Bella Burney put UAA ahead with a kill on the next point, and Eleasha Sapon of Anchorage made a clutch dig on the final rally to set up Ivakina for the clinching kill, lofting a soft attack over the WWU block.
GNAC Volleyball
TEAM CONF OVERALL Central Washington 12-2 16-5 Western Washington 12-3 18-4 UAF 11-3 20-4 Simon Fraser 11-4 17-4 UAA 10-4 19-5 Seattle Pacific 5-9 10-12 NW Nazarene 5-9 6-15 Saint Martin’s 5-10 12-11 Western Oregon 1-14 2-21 MSU Billings 0-14 2-18 Thursday, Nov. 13
UAA at NW Nazarene
Western Oregon at MSU Billings
UAF at Central Washington
Saint Martin’s at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Nov. 15
Saint Martin’s at MSU-Billings
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
UAF at NW Nazarene
Simon Fraser at Western Washington
UAA at Central Washington
Thursday, Nov. 20
MSU-Billings at UAA
Seattle Pacific at UAF
NW Nazarene at Simon Fraser
Central Washington at Western Washington
Saturday, Nov. 22
Seattle Pacific at UAA
Western Oregon at Saint Martin’s
MSU-Billings at UAF
Central Washington at Simon Fraser
NW Nazarene at Western Washington
END REGULAR SEASON
Playing as UAA’s primary libero for the first time, Sapon, a freshman out of Dimond finished with career highs of 14 digs and three assists.
Ivakina’s 25 kills were the most by a Seawolf since 2022 as the Bulgarian hit .339, along with 10 digs and three block assists.
Former Kenai Central standout Emma Beck had 12 kills on .286 hitting, while Hannah Trotter had 28 assists and 17 digs.
“I couldn’t ask for more out of this team,” Meisner said, “especially getting big contributions off the bench for the second huge win in a row, this time from Trinity Byrne (career-high 7 kills) and Johana Malikova (21 assists).”
Western Washington 23 25 18 32
UAA 25 23 25 34
Attack Percentage – Western Washington .164 (Burchak .375, Speer .222, Zaddack .154), UAA .253 (Bryne .357, Ivakina .339, Beck .286). Kills – Western Washington 61 (Speer 20, Burchak 12, Oestreich 10), UAA 67 (Ivakina 25, Allen 15, Beck 12). Assists – Western Washington 56 (Hansen 28, Holland 20), UAA 62 (Trotter 28, Malikova 21). Solo Blocks – Western Washington 2 (Oestreich, Vossenkuhl), UAA 1 (Riba). Digs – Western Washington 71 (Oestreich 21, Claeys 16), UAA 73 (Allen 18, Trotter 17, Sapon 14, Ivakina 10). Aces – Western Washington 8 (Oestreich 4, Claeys 3), UAA 4 (Hansen 2, Allen, Trotter).
UAF 3, Simon Fraser 1
In a battle between nationally ranked teams, the No. 19 Nanooks hammered the ball against one of the best defenses in the GNAC en route to a 25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 25-16 victory over No. 8 Simon Fraser at the Patty Center in Fairbanks.
Led by Cynphany and Mikala Henderson, UAF hit .275 with 51 kills to leapfrog the Red Leafs of British Columbia for third place in the league. Simon Fraser ranks second in the GNAC in opponents hitting percentage (.152), but Fairbanks made the Canadians look like Swiss cheese.
Cynphany collected a triple-double with 13 kills, 20 digs and 16 assists plus a solo block and ace in a MVP type performance.
Mikala mashed 11 kills to go with eight digs and a solo block.
North Pole’s Ainsley Smith recorded 22 assists along with six digs, three aces and two kills.
Simon Fraser 18 17 25 16
UAF 25 25 20 25
Attack Percentage – Simon Fraser .149 (Lemoine-Sells .235, Hawkins .208, Hill .189), UAF .275 (C. Henderson .522, M. Henderson .435, Hoshock .316). Kills – Simon Fraser 48 (Lemoine-Sells 19, Hill 12), UAF 51 (C. Henderson 13, M. Henderson 11, Lyons 10). Assists – Simon Fraser 46 (Person 32), UAF 47 (Smith 22, C. Henderson 16). Solo Blocks – Simon Fraser 0, UAF 2 (M. Henderson, C. Henderson). Digs – Simon Fraser 57 (Unger 15, Hawkins 14), UAF 64 (C. Hendersn 20, Onaga 17). Aces – Simon Fraser 3 (Unger 2), UAF 8 (Smith 3, Onaga 2).
