ANCHORAGE – The Alaska Anchorage volleyball team has gone back to the future for its latest recruit, with head coach Chris Green announcing Tuesday that Kayla McGlathery has signed a scholarship agreement to return to the Seawolves.
A 6-foot middle blocker, McGlathery was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year and an All-GNAC performer in her lone season at UAA in 2014. The Idaho native hit better than .300 in 12 matches as a sophomore – including six straight to end the season – as UAA finished that campaign with a then-program-record .778 winning percentage (21-6) and placed runner-up in the league by just one match at 15-3.
After transferring from Texas A&M Kingsville, where she started all 33 matches as a true freshman, McGlathery led the 2014 Seawolves and ranked third in the GNAC with a .313 attack pct., still good for No. 7 on UAA's single-season list. She also led UAA and ranked 7th in GNAC with 1.06 blocks per set, closing out the year with 10 kills on .471 hitting and 10 total blocks in UAA's 3-1 NCAA Tournament loss to Sonoma State.
“Kayla expressed interest about returning to finish her degree and play volleyball for us, and she has made the commitment to rejoin our program this fall,” Green said. “Obviously we know her potential, and we are looking forward to getting her back in a position to excel at a high level again. We are excited that Kayla has shown the desire to play volleyball again, and the high level of her commitment has become obvious to our coaching staff over the last few months.”
Having not been enrolled in school since leaving UAA, McGlathery will retain her junior eligibility next season, giving her two more years with the program.
Prior to her collegiate career, McGlathery was an All-Inland Empire Conference performer as a junior and a senior at Coeur d'Alene High School, where she also captured Class 5A All-State honors.
McGlathery becomes the seventh player to join the Seawolves' 2019 recruiting class, alongside setters Emma Kleven (5-7, Jr., Anchorage/South HS/Notre Dame de Namur) and Makana Eleneki (5-6, Fr., Kailua, Hawaii/Kapalama HS), outside hitters Mia Ekstrand (5-10, Fr., Anchorage/Dimond HS) and Noho Lind (5-9, Fr., Hana, Hawaii/King Kekaulike HS), setter/defensive specialist Julia Fetko (5-7, Fr., Anchorage/Service HS), and libero/DS Reilly Plumhoff (5-5, Fr., Anchorage/Dimond HS).
