THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE VOLLEYBALL...
Tuesday, Sept. 27 — 7 pm ADT — Patty Center — Fairbanks, Alaska
#10 Alaska Anchorage (14-1, 4-0 GNAC)
at Alaska Fairbanks (2-9, 1-3 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Oct. 1 — 5 pm ADT — Alterowitz Gymnasium — Billings, Mont.
#10 Alaska Anchorage
at Montana State Billings (1-12, 0-4 GNAC [9/30 vs UAF])
FREE LIVE VIDEO & STATS: portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa or /gnac
PROBABLE STARTERS (2016 stats)
S—Morgan Hooe, 5-7, Sr. (9.68 asst/set, 2.79 dps, 1.09 kps, .392 att%, 0.36 ace/set)
MB—Vanessa Hayes, 5-11, Fr. (1.17 kps, .294 att%, 1.00 bps)
MB—Erin Braun, 6-0, Sr. (2.09 kps, .308 att%, 1.23 bps, 0.28 ace/set)
OH—Leah Swiss, 6-0, So. (3.66 kps, .272 att%, 2.72 dps, 0.42 bps, 0.47 ace/set)
OH—Chrisalyn Johnson, 5-9, So. (2.69 kps, .117 att%, 0.92 dps, 0.49 bps)
RS—Diana Fa'amausili, 5-11, Fr. (2.32 kps, .210 att%, 1.11 bps)
L—Kyla Militante-Amper, 5-3, So. (5.87 dps, 0.91 asst/set, 0.26 ace/set)
BORDER CONTROL: The Seawolves earned the early advantage in the quest to repeat as Great Northwest Athletic Conference champions, beating fellow contenders Western Washington and Simon Fraser on the road last week ... in the first match, Sr. S Morgan Hooe compiled 47 assists, 11 digs and 6 kills on .385 hitting as UAA beat the defending West Region champion and GNAC preseason favorite WWU, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20 in Bellingham ... So. OH Leah Swiss had 17 kills (.326), 13 digs and 3 aces, while Sr. MB Erin Braun added 11 kills and 5 total blocks ... Fr. MB Vanessa Hayes had 8 kills on team-best .500 hitting, and So. L Kyla Militante-Amper had her second-most digs in a 4-setter this year with 25 ... on Saturday, Braun delivered 10 kills (.364) and 5 blocks to power a 25-19, 25-19, 25-14 sweep of the Clan, who had entered with an 8-match win streak and a 3-0 GNAC mark ... Swiss had her third straight double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs, and So. OH Chrisalyn Johnson smashed 9 kills ... Hayes enjoyed another errorless hitting night with 5 kills (.417) and 5 blocks, Militante-Amper had 17 digs, and Hooe dished 31 assists.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Alaska Fairbanks enters Tuesday's match with three straight losses after falling 3-1 to SFU and 3-0 at WWU last week ... the Nanooks, whose wins have come over BYU-Hawaii (3-1) and Seattle Pacific (3-2), are led by 5-9 So. OH Amberly Jeane (2.52 kps, .124 att%, 1.57 dps) and 5-10 Fr. MB Kim Wong (2.09 kps, .308 att%, 0.73 bps) ... Montana State Billings has dropped 12 straight as it prepares for Friday's home match against UAF, earning its lone win against BYU-Hawaii in its Sept. 1 season opener ... the Yellowjackets are led by 5-8 Sr. OH Stormy Siemion (3.71 kps, .155 att%, 2.90 dps) and 6-1 Sr. OH Ashlynn Ward (3.57 kps, .270 att%, 1.27 dps).
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
UAA UAF MSUB
UAA Road/Opp. Home 5-1 1-2 0-5
Kills per Set 13.1 11.4 12.0
Attack Pct. .228 .174 .178
Opponent Attack Pct. .112 .250 .238
Assists per Set 11.8 10.8 10.9
Digs per Set 17.4 11.3 13.9
Blocks per Set 2.5 1.5 1.4
Aces per Set 2.0 1.7 1.1
ALL-TIME SERIES...
vs. UAF: UAA leads 66-34 overall, 28-22 in Fairbanks
Last: UAA 3-1 (10/20/15 at UAA)
Streak: UAA 11
Notes: UAA is on its longest win streak against its intrastate rival ... UAA won both matches last year by 3-1 counts ... UAA has won seven straight in Fairbanks ... UAF's last victory came 3-1 in Anchorage, Sept. 18, 2010 ... UAA leads 21-9 in GNAC meetings (since 2001) ... teams have played at least twice every season since 1980.
vs MSUB: UAA leads 44-10 overall, 20-6 in Billings
Last: UAA 3-0 (10/24/15 at MSUB)
Streak: UAA 12
Notes: UAA is has won six straight against MSUB in Billings ... UAA has won 33 of 36 sets during its current win streak — the third double-digit streak for the Seawolves in series history ... MSUB's last wins came in a 2009 series sweep, including a 3-1 victory in Billings over UAA's eventual GNAC championship club ... UAA leads 13-5 since MSUB joined the GNAC in 2007 ... MSUB is UAA's 2nd-most common opponent, trailing only UAF … teams met twice per season every year from 1985-2000 as members of the Pac West and Continental Divide conferences … series started in 1980..
AVCA TOP 25: The Seawolves moved up to No. 10 in the fourth regular-season AVCA NCAA Div. II Top 25 poll of 2016, marking the program's fifth week all-time in the top 10 ... at No. 14, UAA's preseason ranking was its highest ever, and the Seawolves' current streak of 18 straight weeks in the poll is also a program record ... here is an abbreviated look at the current rankings (full poll at avca.org):
AVCA Div. II Coaches' Top 25 Poll (Sept. 26, 2016)
(GNAC teams & UAA opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics)
Rk Team (1st-pl. votes) Pts Rec. Last
1. Concordia-St. Paul (48) 1200 13-0 1
2. Minnesota Duluth 1144 13-0 2
3. Nebraska Kearney 1083 17-0 3
4. SW Minnesota State 1018 10-3 5
5. Wheeling Jesuit 967 13-2 6
6. Central Missouri 888 13-2 10
7. Winona State 860 12-2 9
8. Augustana, S.D. 823 12-1 14
9. Wayne State, Neb. 798 10-3 4
10. ALASKA ANCHORAGE 775 14-1 12
17. Cal St. San Bernardino 411 8-3 13
23. Western Washington 143 6-6 20
West Region Teams Receiving Votes: 30) Cal Baptist 26; 32) Northwest Nazarene 22; 35) Arkansas Fort Smith 15; 36) Concordia, Calif. 12; t39) Simon Fraser 5; t39) Dixie State 5.
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves' 13-match win streak equals the 2nd-longest in program history and is just one shy of the record, set with last year's 14-0 start ... UAA has won 25 straight September matches since a 3-1 loss at then-No. 23 NW Nazarene, Sept. 25, 2014 ... the victory at No. 20 Western Washington improved UAA's record to 4-0 this season and 12-3 against ranked teams since 2014 ... UAA is 22-30 against ranked opponents under head coach Chris Green after losing 32 straight prior to his arrival in 2008 ... UAA has gone 18-1 against non-conference opponents over the last two regular seasons, including 7-0 in neutral-court matches ... UAA's loss at Chaminade ended the program's impressive streaks of seven straight road wins and 37 straight matches without being swept ... UAA leads the early GNAC stats in opponent attack pct. (.112) and aces per set (2.00), along with ranks of 2nd in blocks per set (2.55), 3rd in kills per set (13.13) and 3rd in attack pct. (.228) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, UAA ranks 3rd in blocking, 6th in opponent attack pct., and 20th in aces per set ... the Seawolves are 30-5 at the Alaska Airlines Center since its opening in Sept. 2014, and 76-16 at home since 2009.
THE HOOE PACKAGE: Coming off AVCA Third Team All-America and First Team All-GNAC honors in 2015, Sr. S Morgan Hooe has gotten the Seawolves off to another fast start ... despite dishing a modest 9.68 assists per set, the former South Anchorage HS star has seen her digs average skyrocket to 2.79 dps, while her .392 attack pct. is best on the team ... she has 40 kills with just two attack errors (.458) over the last 10 matches, and 59 percent of her attacks (26 of 44) have resulted in kills over the last six matches ... the Most Outstanding Player of the SpringHill Suites Invitational racked up 47 assists in the win over No. 19 Arkansas Fort Smith and led UAA to a .258 attack pct. in the four matches, Sept. 1-3 ... Hooe matched her season-high 47 assists in wins over two more ranked foes in Cal St. San Bernardino and Western Washington ... with her next-to-last helper at WWU, Hooe became the third player in program history to reach 3,000 career assists, now with 3,032 ... her other UAA career ranks include 6th in assists per set (8.32), t-4th in victories (81), 17th in aces per set (0.265) and t-16th in total aces (96).
BRAUN AT THE NET: Sr. MB Erin Braun earned her first career GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honor after averaging 1.43 bps and 3.00 kps in last week's victories at WWU and SFU ... a big reason the Seawolves are once again in the top 5 nationally in blocks per set this year, Braun is 15th in the nation with 1.23 bps, and she holds GNAC ranks of 5th in attack pct. (.308) and 3rd in bps ... the San Bernardino, Calif., native has posted at least four kills in 38 of her last 45 matches, along with 20 performances with 5-plus blocks in that span ... Braun led the 5-team SpringHill Suites Invitational with a .385 attack pct., and she made a tourney-best 1.31 bps at the D2 West Region Showcase ... now with 345 career block assists, she sits in 3rd place and just 14 shy of the program record ... on the other UAA career lists, she is 2nd in attack pct. (.306), 6th in total blocks (383, one shy of No. 5), 6th in bps (1.08) and 3rd in victories (83), never missing a match in her 4-year career ... she was the GNAC Freshman of the Year in 2013, an honorable mention All-GNAC performer in 2014, and a two-time Academic All-GNAC achiever.
SWISS AIR: Another returning All-GNAC player, So. OH Leah Swiss has delivered all-tournament performances at both the SpringHill Suites Invitational and D2 West Region Showcase ... at the 5-team SpringHill, Swiss was the only player to rank in the top 5 in attack pct. (.322) and kps (3.79), while finishing 10th in dps (2.71) and serving a tourney-best 11 aces ... her offense was even sharper at the Showcase, ranking 2nd in kps (4.19), 4th in attack pct. (.331) and 3rd in aces (0.44) ... three of Swiss's six double-doubles have come against nationally ranked opponents, including a career-high 26 kills and 15 digs against No. 15 Cal St. San Bernardino ... the former Dimond High star ranks 2nd in the GNAC with 4.36 points per set, along with ranks of 4th in kps (3.66), 9th in attack pct. (.272) and 2nd in aces per set (0.47).
AMPERING IT UP: So. L Kyla Militante-Amper has been a difference-maker on the back row, collecting all-tournament awards at both the SpringHill Suites Invitational and D2 West Region Showcase, along with her third career GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honor on Sept. 12 ... she led the 6-team Showcase with 5.94 digs per set, collecting at least 21 digs in each of the four matches and tying her career-high with 30 in the 4-set win over Dixie State, while she made just one reception error in 58 tries (.983) ... currently 2nd in the GNAC stats and 9th nationally with 5.87 dps, the Hillsboro, Ore. (Century HS) product is averaging nearly 1.5 digs better than her 4.42 mark from 2015 ... since coming north, Militante-Amper has registered at least 15 digs in 31 of the 38 matches in which she played the whole way, including all 15 contests this year ... she has also excelled again in her role as UAA's secondary setter, dishing six assists in the wins over Arkansas Fort Smith and Seattle Pacific, and a career-high seven assists in the sweep of Rollins.
FA'ABULOUS FRESHMEN: Fr. RS Diana Fa'amausili and Fr. MB Vanessa Hayes have wasted no time in contributing to the regular rotation despite their rookie status, combining for 3.5 kills and 2.11 blocks per set ... Fa'amausili, from Federal Way, Wash. (Kent-Meridian HS), is UAA's 2nd-leading blocker with 1.11 bps, ranking 7th in the GNAC, 36th nationally overall, and 3rd nationally among freshmen ... taking over for graduated All-American Julia Mackey on the right side, Fa'amausili has delivered at least 5 kills in all 15 matches, averaging 2.32 kps on .210 hitting ... meanwhile, Hayes has been a consistent presence to offset the loss of All-GNAC honorable mention MB Caitlin Hanson, notching multiple kills and multiple blocks in 13 of 15 matches ... the Salem, Ore. (McNary HS) native hit .364 with 6 kills and 5 block assists in the win over No. 15 Cal St. San Bernardino, and she delivered her best two attack percentages in last week's road victories, combining for 13 kills on .462 hitting against Simon Fraser and No. 20 Western Washington ... Hayes ranks 9th in the GNAC stats with 1.00 bps.
MORE PLAYER NOTES: After seeing action in just 14 sets as a rookie, So. OH Chrisalyn Johnson has broken out as UAA's 2nd-leading kills producer with 2.69 kps ... the former Dimond High star has accounted for at least 8 kills in 14 of 15 matches this year, tying her career high with 12 last week at No. 20 Western Washington ... Johnson has also proven a proficient blocker at 0.49 bps, serving up a pair of critical solo stuffs late against No. 19 Arkansas Fort Smith ... So. OH/L Taylor Noga established herself as UAA's regular serving specialist in 2015, appearing in 105 of 110 sets ... this year the former East Anchorage HS standout has suited up in all 46 sets, paying a larger defensive role and averaging 2.09 dps ... Jr. DS/RS Keala Kaio-Perez has been getting into the rhythm of NCAA Div. II play, improving each week since transferring from JC powerhouse Western Nebraska ... the Hawaiian is 2nd on the team with 23 total aces, and she has accounted for double-digit digs in four of the last eight matches.
GREEN MACHINE: Having led UAA to its unprecedented 8th straight winning season, UAA head coach Chris Green (173-70, .712) continues to establish himself as the most successful coach in program history and one of the top mentors in the NCAA Div. II ranks ... now a 3-time GNAC Coach of the Year (2009, 2013, 2015) and 2-time AVCA D-II West Region Coach of the Year (2009, 2015), Green has led UAA to NCAA Tournament berths in six of the last seven seasons, capturing the program's highest-ever seeds the last two seasons ... in the 28 years before Green's arrival, the Seawolves made two NCAAs ... UAA has won at an .806 clip (83-20) since the start of the 2013 campaign, including .867 (52-8) in league play ... after helping the Seawolves to a 10-win turnaround in his first season, Green earned both GNAC and NCAA Div. II West Region coach-of-the-year honors in 2009 when he piloted UAA to its first GNAC title and the program's first-ever NCAA victory ... Green's UAA teams have produced six All-Americans, four GNAC Players of the Year, five GNAC Newcomers of the Year and two GNAC Freshmen of the Year ... hired in Feb. 2008 as the sixth coach in UAA Volleyball history, Green spent the previous nine seasons (1999-07) as the head coach at Western Nebraska Community College, where he built a powerhouse program. Among his list of accomplishments at WNCC were a 453-55 record, the 2007 NJCAA Div. I national championship, 2006 NJCAA runner-up, and four straight 'Final 4' berths ... the Cougars finished in the top 10 at the national tournament in all of Green's seasons, producing a total of 10 first-team and six second-team All-America certificates ... in 2011, he was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame ... Green is assisted by 2nd-year assistant coach Sheldon Carvalho, 2nd-year graduate assistant coach Calli Scott, and volunteer assistants Gaynor Johansen (7th season), Siobhan Johansen (3rd season), Virgil Hooe (1st season) and Nathan Svedin (1st season).
SEAWOLVES SLOTTED SECOND: Defending GNAC champion UAA was picked runner-up in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's preseason coaches' poll, released Aug. 16.
2016 GNAC Preseason Volleyball Coaches' Poll
Team (1st-place votes) 2015 Records Pts
1. Western Washington (11) 27-6 (17-3, 2nd) 121
2. Alaska Anchorage 27-3 (18-2, 1st) 104
3. Northwest Nazarene 19-9 (16-4, t-3rd) 98
4. Central Washington 20-8 (16-4, t-3rd) 92
5. Simon Fraser 15-13 (11-9, 5th) 73
6. Concordia 18-10 (10-10, 6th) 64
7. Seattle Pacific 7-21 (5-15, t-8th) 53
8. Western Oregon 8-21 (5-15, t-8th) 43
9. Alaska Fairbanks 6-21 (6-14, 7th) 41
10. Montana State Billings 6-23 (5-15, t-8th) 23
11. Saint Martin's 2-24 (1-19, 11th) 14
Points awarded on 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis
2016 INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Erin Braun
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Sept. 19-25
Morgan Hooe
SpringHill Suites Invitational Most Outstanding Player
Kyla Militante-Amper
SpringHill Suites Invitational All-Tournament Team
D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase All-Tournament Team
GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Sept. 5-11
Leah Swiss
SpringHill Suites Invitational All-Tournament Team
D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase All-Tournament Team
