Coming off a five-set road win over nationally-ranked Western Washington last weekend, the UAA volleyball team will host Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington this week in a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches.
The Seawolves, who also beat Simon Fraser on the road last week, improved to 15-6 overall and 9-0 in conference play, strengthening their hold on first place in the GNAC.
Western Washington (14-2, 7-1 GNAC), second in the GNAC, fell from seventh to eighth in the NCAA Division II rankings. The 29th-ranked Seawolves, received votes for the fourth straight week in the coaches' poll.
UAA's Katelynn Zanders racked 22 kills in the win over Western Washington and was named GNAC offensive player of the week. Zanders finished with 29 kills for the week to go with 23 digs and five blocks.
Nazarene (10-5, 6-3 GNAC) will be UAA's first opponent this week, visiting the Wells Fargo Sports Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. Central Washington (9-8, 5-4 GNAC) will face the Seawolves on Saturday at 7 p.m.
UAA needed four sets to defeat Nazarene and Central Washington in road matches last month. The Seawolves are 8-4 against Nazarene in Anchorage, but the Crusaders, of Nampa, Idaho, own a 14-12 edge in the overall series. Central Washington is 17-17 all time against UAA, with the Seawolves owning a 9-8 advantage at home.
UAA is 45-8 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex since 2009 and have never lost consecutive home matches under coach Chris Green.
Anchorage Daily News