The University of Alaska Fairbanks    

UAF falls to Seattle Pacific

By RICHARD LARSON, Staff Writer

Seattle Pacific pulled out a tough five-game win over the visiting Nanooks on Friday, defeating the University of Alaska Fairbanks 28-30, 30-27, 30-27, 27-30, 15-13 in the penultimate volleyball match of the season for both teams.

"We were too erratic," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said. "We had stretches where we looked like we were going to take control of the match. There were moments we were certainly in control, but then there were moments where we were making too many mistakes, too many errors. Some of them were forced, but unfortunately too many of them were unforced."

The Nanooks had 36 hitting errors, 11 service errors, eight receiving errors and three blocking errors in the contest.

But they had a number of highlights, including 26 kills, four service aces, six total blocks and 18 digs from junior Mallory Bergstrom; 22 digs from senior Candice Smith; and eight total blocks by sophomore April Blandford.

"April had a good blocking match. Mallory had another solid performance with a good hitting percentage, but we are putting way too much pressure on Mallory and Danielle (Hitzeman) to carry the load for us," Shoemaker said. "Candice had 22 digs and that was certainly part of Seattle's game plan, to try to put pressure on our right back. It was good to get Carlin (Smith) back in the game, get her going for us again."

Junior Carlin Smith was back, having missed the last four matches with a knee injury. She had seven kills, two service aces and three total blocks.

Sophomore Crystal Wheelock had 20 digs for the Nanooks. Freshman Jessica Clemons had 43 assists.

Katy Kravitz and Jessica Bauder each had 15 kills for SPU. Chelsey Myers added 14 kills and 17 digs. Katy Higgins had nine kills, 20 digs and 53 assists. Andrea Pennington had 31 digs.

After falling behind two games to one, the Nanooks fought back to force a fifth game with a 30-27 win in Game 4. UAF led 8-6 mid-way through the fifth game, but came up just short.

"We certainly had our chances," Shoemaker said. "We made a couple of key passing errors late. There was a call that could've gone either way that went against us, just a few things late in the game that allowed them to gain the lead and ultimately to win the game and the match.

"You can't leave things to chance whether you are at home or on the road. This was a tough loss, one we think was avoidable."

The Nanooks (13-9 overall, 10-7 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference) finish their season with a match at Western Washington tonight. The Vikings swept Alaska Anchorage 30-27, 30-25, 30-25 on Friday. Western Washington (23-1, 17-0) is ranked third in the nation and has won 53 consecutive league matches. The Vikings would complete a third consecutive unbeaten GNAC season with a win over UAF today.

"We are going to have to play light-years better than we did tonight, considerably better than we have for most of the season to win," Shoemaker said. "They are a team that just about doesn't make any mistakes. I'm not saying it is impossible. I think that if there is a team that can beat them it is us, but we've got to have a much more complete game than we had tonight."