Alaska News

Augustana denies UAA in volleyball finale

A long day of volleyball in a long week of volleyball started with a victory in the morning and ended with defeat Saturday night for UAA.

The Seawolves lost the championship match of the six-team SpringHill Suites Invitational, taking the first set but losing the next three in a dramatic 20-25, 29-27, 25-18, 25-20 setback to Augustana College of South Dakota.

The match featured 35 ties, 12 lead changes and an epic second set that saw both teams fend off multiple set points. The pivotal set ended in Augustana's favor when tournament MVP Holly Hafemeyer ripped back-to-back kills for the 29-27 win.

The match was the second of the day and the fourth of the tournament for both teams. UAA (4-3) gets Sunday off but comes right back on Monday for a nonconference match against Colorado Christian.

Hafemeyer, an All-America middle blocker, blasted 20 kills against UAA, making four errors on 42 attempts for a sparkling .381 attack percentage. Augustana (4-0), which also got 19 kills and nine digs from Courtney Ysker, had a team attack percentage of .276.

UAA (4-3) was no slouch itself.

Julia Mackey equaled her career-high with 18 kills and posted a .424 attack percentage to help the Seawolves to a solid .238 team attack percentage. Katelynn Zanders provided 15 kills and 13 digs for her first career double-double.

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Mackey made the all-tournament team, along with teammates Quinn Barker (14 digs) and Jodi Huddleston (4 kills, 5 total blocks). Barker was among five Seawolves with double-digit digs against Augustana; setter Siobhan Johansen added 11 to go along with 23 assists.

American International of Springfield, Mass., and Texas A&M Kingsville finished the tournament with 2-2 records. Notre Dame de Namur of Belmont, Calif., finished 1-3, and Claflin of Orangeburg, S.C. was 0-4.

In UAA's early match Saturday, Huddleston proved a terror at the net, furnishing

11 kills and seven block assists to spearhead a four-set victory over Notre Dame de Namur in a match that started at 8:30 a.m.

Maureen Sabado also earned seven block assists in helping UAA to a 25-21, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19 win.

Mackey paced the Seawolves' attack with 13 kills and Zanders added 12. Huddleston had just one hitting error among her 26 attempts.

Augustana 3, AIC 0

Courtney Ysker ripped 16 kills and Brittany Cech tallied a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs, helping Augustana to a 25-16, 25-18, 25-14 sweep of American International.

The Vikings got nine kills and five total blocks from middle blocker Taylor Hrdlichka, plus 41 assists from setter Marissa Johnson.

American International was led by Melanie Garcia's nine kills.

Kingsville 3, N. Dame de Namur 1

Kalani Giddens and Dedra Brown combined for 28 kills to propel Texas A&M Kingsville to a four-set win over Notre Dame de Namur, 25-16, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23.

Kayla McGlathery added seven kills for Kingsville, as did Sarah Fountain.

Kingsville 3, Claflin 0

Middle blocker Stephanie Johns had match-highs of 13 kills and four total blocks to help Texas A&M Kingsville to a 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 victory over Claflin.

Claflin was led by 11 kills and five digs from Lydia Wise.

AIC 3, Claflin 0

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Bailey Swan racked up 12 kills and just one hitting error to help lift American International to a sweep of Claflin.

Phoebe Lettington, Siri Ngundam and Melanie Garcia all contributed six kills for AIC. Lydia Wise paced Claflin with 10 kills.

All-Tournament team

Dominique Tarrant, Notre Dame de Namur

Caitlin Connelly, American International

Stephanie Johns, Texas A&M Kingsville

Quinn Barker, UAA

Marissa Johnson, Augustana

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Jodi Huddleston, UAA

Courtney Ysker, Augustana

Julia Mackey, UAA

Most Outstanding Player:

Holly Hafemeyer, Augustana

Anchorage Daily News

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