The University of Alaska Fairbanks
This is an Unofficial Site of Nanook Volleyball
The University of Alaska Fairbanks
By RICHARD LARSON, Staff Writer
The Nanooks were attacked by Wolves on Thursday and they didn't fare well.
Western Oregon swept the University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team in shockingly easy fashion, winning 30-19, 30-19 and 30-16.
"It was not a stellar performance that's for sure," UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said. "We just weren't ready to go and (Western Oregon) played very well. We just did not respond. We didn't play with nearly the intensity of desire or any of the good stuff we showed the last couple of weekends."
The Wolves (7-6 overall, 2-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference) attacked at a .381 hitting percentage, including a phenomenal .643 in Game 3 when they had 20 kills on 28 attempts with only two hitting errors.
The Nanooks fell to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the GNAC. They play at Humboldt State on Saturday.
Asked what his team should do after Thursday's loss Shoemaker said, "Forget about it. You got to let that one go pretty quickly or else it will eat you up. We know we have played far, far better than this and we know we will play better than this in the future."
In Thursday's loss, the Nanooks were led by freshman Danielle Hitzeman, who had nine kills. Freshman setter Jessica Clemons had 17 assists in two games played. Freshman Dasa Capova added 11 assists, moving into the setter role in the third game.
"We were just looking for something. Our passing wasn't as good as it needs to be so our setters were not given as many options as we'd like," Shoemaker said. "We took Jess out, but it wasn't like she was playing any worse than anybody else."
Sophomore Crystal Wheelock had 11 digs. Senior Mallory Bergstrom had six kills and nine digs.
The Nanooks hit at .098 for the match and had nearly as many hitting errors (18) as kills (20) in the first two games. UAF had seven team blocks with freshman Katie Tobiasz and senior Candice Smith each having three total blocks. Smith did not play in the third game.
"We were just trying to figure out something that would work for us," Shoemaker said. "It wasn't that Candice was playing that poorly, but we thought maybe moving Katie to the right and having a little more speed out there would give us more options."
Junior Carlin Smith had the top hitting percentage for the Nanooks at .357 with six kills and just one error in 14 attacks.
Kim Tower had 16 kills, five ace serves and 15 digs to lead the Wolves. Samantha Krier added 13 kills. Amy Tyler had 29 assists and Tiffany Mapston had 15 digs.
Humboldt State (4-9, 2-2) defeated visiting Alaska Anchorage (7-5, 1-3) in five games on Thursday, overcoming a 2-0 games deficit to win 29-31, 19-30, 30-25, 30-19 and 15-9.
The road losses by Fairbanks and Anchorage on Thursday make Shoemaker even more impressed with Western Washington's 46-match conference win streak. Western won in Fairbanks and Anchorage two weeks ago.
"It is tough to win on the road. That makes their feat all the more remarkable," Shoemaker said. "We've got to find out what they are doing and get some of it."
