The University of Alaska Fairbanks    

UAF volleyball tightens grip on conference spot

By BOB ELEY, Sports Editor

The Nanooks continued to roll on Thursday night.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks notched its fourth straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball victory by defeating Saint Martin's College in four games to solidify the Nanooks' grip on second place in the conference standings.

After losing the first game of the match 30-28, the Nanooks came back to win the next three games--30-23, 30-26, 30-23--to wrap up the win in Lacey, Wash.

"We got the job done," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said in a telephone interview Thursday evening. "As the match went on we got better and better."

The victory boosted the Nanooks, who are ranked fifth in this week's NCAA Division II West Region poll, to 9-4 on the season and 6-2 in the GNAC. Saint Martin's dropped to 5-14 on the season and 0-8 in conference.

"Games like this are scary for us," Shoemaker said. "They're always a tough team for us to play and you can't help being overconfident, but we got the job done tonight."

The Nanooks close out the first half of the conference session tonight when they play at Central Washington.

"It's going to be another real tough match for us," Shoemaker said. "Every time we play Central, it seems to go down to the wire. There's always a lot of drama, but the good news is that we usually win. We're hoping for a little more magic."

A trio of freshman--Danielle Hitzeman, Katie Tobiasz and Jessica Clemons--turned in strong performances in Thursday night's win, as did junior middle blocker Carlin Smith.

Hitzeman pounded down 20 kills from her outside hitter position and had a .367 attack percentage. She also delivered a whopping seven aces and had a team-high 14 digs.

"Not a bad night for a freshman,'' Shoemaker said. "She had a great evening for us."

Tobiasz registered nine kills and had a .316 attack percentage and Clemons recorded 41 assists and served up four aces. Smith has seven kills and eight blocks and junior Mallory Bergstrom contributed 10 kills and 10 digs. Candice Smith, the team's lone senior, posted six kills and had 12 digs. Crystal Wheelock had nine digs.

The Nanooks have struggled from the service line at times this season, but not on Thursday. As a team, UAF registered 13 service aces and had only seven service errors.

"That's definitely not our norm," Shoemaker said. "Danielle was just on fire tonight."