The University of Alaska Fairbanks    

Playoff hopes spiked, Redhawks sweep Nanooks off court

By BOB ELEY, Sports Editor

The Nanooks postseason playoff hopes took another severe hit on Saturday when they were swept aside by the Seattle University Redhawks.

A victory would have put the University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team in the driver's seat to finish second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and a possible NCAA Division II West Regional playoff berth, but the 30-27, 30-24, 30-28 loss may have been the straw that broke the Nanooks' backs.

"I am not happy," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said in a telephone message left for the News-Miner. "We should not have lost to this team. It was a very disappointing evening."

The loss dropped the Nanooks to 12-7 on the season and 9-5 in the GNAC standings, a half-game behind the Redhawks (14-8, 10-5) in the race for second place.

Western Washington (21-1, 14-0) captured the conference title for the third straight year with a three-game sweep of Saint Martin's on Saturday. Western has not lost a league match since the conference was created three years ago.

"After the game, we talked about three or four equally lousy excuses on why we lost and the bottom line is we did not control the game the way we should have," Shoemaker said. "We acted like we didn't want to take control."

While there are still four games remaining in the regular season, Shoemaker said it would take a miracle for the Nanooks to reach the tournament.

"This one cost us and it cost us in a big way," he said. "My guess is that we're done. Nobody is going to tell us that, at least for a while anyway, but neither team in the gym tonight deserves to go on to the NCAA tournament."

Only three UAF players reached double figures in kills on Saturday night in Seattle.

Senior Candice Smith registered a team high 15 and had an attack percentage of .278, but the rest of the team struggled. Freshman Danielle Hitzeman had 12 kills, but just a .154 attack percentage and Mallory Bergstrom had 11 kills with an attack percentage of .077.

Defensively, Bergstrom was one of five Nanooks in double figures in the digs column with 17. Sophomore Crystal Wheelock had 14, while freshman Jessica Clemons and Smith had 11 apiece and Hitzeman had 10.

Lizzy Safranski was the only Seattle player in double figures in kills with 10 and Erika Brunson led the Redhawks in digs with 13.

"We had our chances and we just didn't take advantage of them," Shoemaker said.

The Nanooks return home this weekend to host Saint Martin's at 7 p.m. on Friday and Central Washington on 5 p.m. Saturday.