The University of Alaska Fairbanks    

Nanooks victorious over Crusaders

Staff Report

Overcoming adversity is the sign of a good team and the Nanooks displayed that trait on Thursday night in Nampa, Idaho.

Playing without starting middle blocker Carlin Smith and with leading hitter Mallory Bergstrom battling the flu, the University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team still managed to pull out a four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders.

"There's no question that this was a big win for us," a relieved UAF coach Phil Shoemaker said after the Nanooks escaped with a 23-30, 30-27, 30-23, 30-22 victory.

"We understood that nothing short of victory was acceptable tonight," Shoemaker said. "After we got down in the first game, we kept battling back and found a way to turn it around."'

Coupled with Alaska Anchorage's five-game victory over the Seattle University Redhawks, UAF moved back into second place in the conference standings.

Western Washington leads the league with a 13-0 record, followed by UAF at 9-4, Seattle at 9-5 and UAA at 8-5. The Nanooks can take control for the race for second place in the conference with a win at Seattle University on Saturday night.

"We played an adequate match tonight and we'll need to play a much better one on Saturday," Shoemaker said.

Without Smith, who suffered a knee injury in last Saturday's win over Western Oregon and didn't make the road trip, the Nanooks were a little out of synch the first game, but finally got rolling in Game 2 and finished strong.

"It was a wild and crazy match, but we managed to play successfully," Shoemaker said. "We weren't sharp, but we got the job done."

Bergstrom, who was up most of Wednesday night with the flu and missed the team's pregame workout earlier in the day, turned in another amazing performance at the net for the Nanooks.

The 6-foot-1 junior outside hitter from Bend, Ore., finished with an amazing 27 kills with a .404 attack percentage. That's the second-highest total for a four-game GNAC match this season. She also holds the top mark with 28 and had 26 last Friday against Humboldt State.

"She was just dominating tonight," Shoemaker said. "It was one of the performances you hear about where the great athlete isn't feeling well and comes through with an outstanding performance."

Freshman outside hitter Danielle Hitzeman came through with 19 kills and a .237 percentage, while senior Candice Smith had nine kills and a .231 percentage. Freshman Katie Tobiasz, who replaced Smith in the middle, came through with 10 kills and posted a .212 attack percentage.

As a team, the Nanooks had a better attack percentage each game.

"Early on we were giving up way too many offensive opportunities," Shoemaker said. "But we woke up as the night went on and that was nice to see."

Complete match results were not available Thursday night.

Following Saturday's match at Seattle, the Nanooks return home to host Saint Martin's College at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 and Central Washington at 5 p.m. on Nov. 8 in the final home match of the year.