The UAA volleyball team's four-game road winning streak in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference was halted Thursday night, when No. 17-ranked and league-leading Western Washington swept the Seawolves in Bellingham.
The Vikings, who also swept UAA in Anchorage in early October, rolled 25-16, 25-22, 25-23.
The Seawolves earned an attack percentage of just .109, well below the season average of .211 they carried into the opener of a two-match trip that continues Saturday night at Simon Fraser in Burnaby, British Columbia.
The Vikings, meanwhile, racked an attack percentage of .286, well above the .159 the Seawolves held opponents to entering the match.
UAA made more than double the attack errors committed by Western Washington, 23-11.
The Seawolves (14-7 overall, 9-4 GNAC) sit in a tie with Central Washington in the 10-team league. The Vikings (19-3, 12-2 GNAC) remained atop the league ahead of Western Oregon (17-5, 10-3 GNAC).
Katelyn Zanders led UAA with nine kills, Julia Mackey and Breanne Sytnyk each added eight, and Nikkie Viotto added six. Sytnyk's kills came on just 18 attacks to give her a strong hitting percentage of .333. But Sarah Johnson endured a difficult night, falling to register a kill on 18 attacks and accumulating four hitting errors.
Western Washington's Emily Boerger furnished nine kills on just 16 attack. Marlayna Geary led the Vikings with a match-high 11 kills and Kelsey Moore added eight on just 18 attacks. Moore and Boerger each committed just one attacking error.
The Vikings also won the battle of blocking. They delivered three solo blocks and 12 block assists, and the Seawolves did not manage a solo block and generated eight block assists.
UAA's Kimya Jafroudi contributed 32 assists to give her a career total of 1,780 and move her past Ann Twiggs (1,757 assists, 1983-86) and into the No. 6 spot on the school's all-time list.
Siobhan Johansen bagged 14 digs to lead UAA and Jafroudi added 11.
Anchorage Daily News