The UAA volleyball team dropped its first set Saturday, but came back to win three straight on the road against Northwest Nazarene and remain undefeated in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
UAA's 20-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-18 victory was the 100th for coach Chris Green since he started coaching the Seawolves six seasons ago. UAA improved to 11-6 overall and 4-0 in GNAC play and is in first place after handing Nazarene (7-3, 3-1) its first league loss.
"We played some pretty good defense, offensively we were pretty steady," Green said. "They're a huge team, but they had trouble getting the ball to their setters. Give credit to our servers for keeping them off balance."
UAA's Katelynn Zanders, who finished with nine kills and eight digs, served two of her career-high four aces as part of a 9-1 run that helped the Seawolves win the second set. Julia Mackey sparked a win in the third set with six of her team-high 16 kills.
UAA outhit the Crusaders .346 to .037 in the third set, and the Seawolves kept the momentum rolling in the fourth set when they opened with a 4-1 run and led the rest of the way. Libero Quinn Barker notched two of her three aces during a 7-1 run in the final set. She finished with a match-high 20 digs, hitting the 20-dig mark for the second straight match.
"We had some big runs, big serving runs and we were able to play pretty good defense and get a lot of points off our serve," Green said. "Mackey had a great match and Barker did a great job in the back row for us."
Outside hitter Brooke Pottle recorded eight kills and five digs for the Seawolves, with middle blocker Erin Braun adding six kills on a team-best .600 attack percentage. Middle blocker Jodi Huddleston posted a match-high six blocks, including two solos.
UAA setters Siobhan Johansen and Morgan Hooe played well, Green said, with Johansen producing 29 assists and Hooe dishing 14.
The Seawolves are one of two unbeaten teams remaining in the GNAC, the other being Western Washington (9-1, 2-0), which is ranked 11th nationally.
UAA returns home for its next two matches, facing Western Oregon on Thursday and Saint Martin's on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
Green's overall record with UAA is 100-56, good for a .641 winning percentage. Prior to coming to UAA, Green was 453-55 in nine years coaching Western Nebraska Community College, where he won a National Junior College Athletic Association title in 2007.
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