The University of Alaska Fairbanks
This is an Unofficial Site of Nanook Volleyball
The University of Alaska Fairbanks
by BOB ELEY, Sports Editor, Fairbanks Daily News Miner
The University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team completed a successful season-opening road trip to California with an exciting five-game victory over the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros Monday night.
After splitting four matches in the Cal Poly Pomona Invitational on Friday and Saturday, the Nanooks downed the Toros 25-30, 30-28, 30-24, 22-30 15-6 and headed home this morning with a 3-2 record.
"It was an excellant experience for us," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said in a telephone interview from Carson, Calif., Monday evening. "We're struggling right now with defense and ball control. The offense is coming along just fine, but our defense has to get much better."
The Nanooks struggled throughout the night on Monday, but put everything together in the fifth game to comlete the 3-2 victory.
"It was one of those matches where I think we were overconfident and we underestimated their skill a little bit," Shoemaker said. "They weren't a particularly big team, but they had some really nice ball-control players and they gave us fits."
The Nanooks had another strong night at the net as they hit .238 as a team (about 80 points higher than last year's average), and four players had 10 or more kills.
Mallory Bergstrom and Danielle Hitzeman collected 18 apiece, while April Blandford had 11 kills and Carlin Smith collected 10. Blandford had a .526 kill percentage, while Hitzeman was at .333, Smith was at .318 and Bergstrom was at .190.
Hitzeman had 18 digs to set the pace for the UAF defense, while Bergstrom had 13 and Jessica Clemons and Crystal Wheelock had 11 apiece. Candice Smith had three blocks and Blandford had three. Clemons had 57 set assists.
"April came into her own tonight, not just hitting but her blocking as well," Shoemaker said. "The numbers for Danielle were just excellant and that's exactly the type of player she is."
The Nanooks return home this afternoon and will play exhibition matches against the Fairbanks Flyers and the UAF Alumni at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday before opening conference play hosting Great Northwest Athletic Conference favorite Western Washington on Sept. 12.
"It was a great trip for us," Shoemaker said. "We were fortunate to get out of here with a win tonight, but there are still a lot of bright spots that we can build on."
