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Seawolves keep their perfect October intact

VOLLEYBALL: UAA rallies to beat Western Oregon after dropping the first set.

By RICHARD LARSON
rlarson@adn.com

Published: October 29th, 2009 10:36 PM
Last Modified: October 30th, 2009 12:16 AM

Facing her former team, sophomore Jackie Matthisen once again had a big night, hammering 18 kills and adding a career-high 19 digs to lead the Seawolves volleyball team to its eighth consecutive win.

UAA Seawolves

3-3-0 Overall / 1-1-0 WCHA

at

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS

0-3-1 Overall / 0-3-1 WCHA

WHEN: Tonight, 4:07 p.m. ADT; Sunday, 1:07 p.m. AST

WHERE: Mariucci Arena (cap. 10,000), Minneapolis

RADIO: Live AM-550 KTZN

TV: Live, GCI Cable Channel 1

TRENDS: Minnesota's back-to-back 3-0 losses to visiting Denver last week marked the first time the Gophers have suffered consecutive shutouts since January 1930.

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UAA defeated Western Oregon 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20, but needed big rallies in the second and third sets to remain on top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.

The Seawolves lost the first set and trailed 20-16 late in the second before finishing on a 9-2 run. In the third set, UAA fell behind 7-1 and 17-11 before storming back to win.

"It wasn't pretty. There was some pretty sloppy volleyball being played, but somehow we scrapped back," UAA coach Chris Green said. "Those were good comebacks. We didn't panic at least."

The Seawolves jumped to leads of 11-4 and 20-11 in the third set before holding off a Wolves rally to escape with the win.

"We want to get better each time we go out and play, and tonight I don't think we did. Nobody had a particularly pleasing game," Green said. "We need to step it up."

The Seawolves' eight-match win streak began with a 3-0 win over Western Oregon on Oct. 1. In that match, Matthisen -- who played for the Wolves in 2007 before transferring to UAA last season -- had 20 kills.

"It wasn't as good today as she played at home against them, but she compiled some pretty good stats," Green said.

McKenzie Moss smashed 14 kills and added 10 digs for the Seawolves. Cortney Lundberg attacked at a .400 hitting percentage and finished with 13 kills and a pair of solo blocks.

Callie Scott distributed 48 assists and libero Stacie Meisner dug up 20 hits. Shelby Hollister had four aces serves.

Western Oregon (7-16, 4-8) was led by Samantha Ward's 18 kills. Irene Walters added 12 kills and 17 digs.

Combined with Montana State-Billings' win over Seattle Pacific, the victory gives the Seawolves a one-and-a-half match lead in the standings with four matches remaining. UAA improved to 18-7 overall and 10-2 in the GNAC.

The Seawolves were ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division II West Region ranking that were released Thursday. They'll try to complete a perfect October when they play their last regular-season road match of the season Saturday at St. Martin's.

Find Richard Larson online at adn.com/contact/rlarson or call 257-4335.