The University of Alaska Fairbanks    

Nanooks to begin conference competition

By RICHARD LARSON, Staff Writer

The conference season starts with a bang for the University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team as the Nanooks play host to two of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's best this weekend.

The Nanooks, who finished second in the league last year, play defending league champion Western Washington today at 7 p.m. at the UAF Patty Center. On Saturday, the Nanooks go up against unbeaten Seattle Pacific University.

Western Washington (6-1) brings a six-match unbeaten streak into today's match against UAF (3-2). The Vikings are ranked fifth in the nation have a 41-match unbeaten streak in conference play, the longest current streak of its kind and the seventh longest in the history of NCAA Division II volleyball.

Seattle Pacific (7-0) is off to its best start ever, a complete turnaround from last year when the Falcons began the year 1-6. SPU won a total of nine matches last year, but is already within two wins of that total this season.

"They are both really good teams. We've looked at some tape and I would say SPU and us will be an extremely close match," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said. "As far as Western Washington it is hard to remember them looking better last year than they look right now."

Both the Vikings and Falcons played in the Seattle Pacific tournament last weekend and dominated the competition, each finishing with 3-0 records. Western Washington swept CSU Dominguez Hills, Cal State Stanislaus and UC Davis. The Vikings have won their last 13 games overall, dropping only two games since losing a four-game match to UC San Diego to open the season. The Falcons swept Dominguez Hills and dropped one game in wins over UC Davis and Cal State Stanislaus last weekend.

Alaska Fairbanks shares one common opponent with Western Washington and Seattle Pacific so far this season as each team has beaten Dominguez Hills. The Nanooks needed five games to beat Dominquez Hills 25-30, 30-28, 30-24, 22-30, 15-6 while Western Washington beat Dominguez Hills 30-13, 30-22, 30-20 and Seattle Pacific won 30-17, 30-19, 30-13.

Last weekend, the Nanooks played a pair of exhibition matches, getting swept by the Fairbanks Flyers and losing in five games to the UAF alumni team.

"I think we took some positive lessons out of that. We played two pretty strong teams," Shoemaker said. "We've had a good week of practice and we've taken what we learned and applied it during the week. Overall we just came out with the realization that we have to play hard all the time if we want to be successful."

Last year, Western Washington beat UAF in both conference meetings, sweeping the Nanooks in Washington and earning a four-game win at the Patty Center. The Nanooks won both of their meetings against Seattle Pacific. Prior to last year UAF had won just one of 19 meetings with the Falcons.

The Nanooks are also the last team to defeat Western Washington in conference play.

"We beat them here my first year," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said. "It was toward the end of the regular season three years ago and they haven't lost since."

Kristy Carstensen leads Western Washington in kills with 94, averaging 3.92 per game. Meghan Evoy has 80 kills (3.33 per game) and the top attack percentage of .328. Nicola Parker leads the team in digs with 119, while Jamie Petersen had 99 digs and Brianna Murray 95. Liz Bishop has 316 assists (13.74 per game). Evoy and Bishop each have eight service aces. Carstensen had 26 total blocks and Evoy has 22.

Seattle Pacific is led by Jessica Bauder, who had 96 kills (3.69 per game), 10 service aces and 74 digs. Chelsey Myers has 79 kills. Jenna Von Moos has 197 assists and Katy Higgins has 93 assists. The Falcons have served 59 aces (2.19 per game), but have also seen opponents serve for 69 aces (2.56).

Through the first five games of the season the Nanooks are led in kills by junior Mallory Bergstrom (78 kills, 4.11 per game) and freshman Danielle Hitzeman (71, 3.94). Sophomore April Blanford has the top attack percentage at .405, followed by junior Carlin Smith at .315. Blanford and senior Candice Smith are tied to the team lead in total blocks with 15. Freshman Jessica Clemons has 214 assists (11.26 per game). Hitzeman has 10 service aces and Clemons has eight.