Sports

UAA Seawolves bounce back with sweep of Western Oregon volleyball team

A day after being deemed the No. 2 in the West Region, the UAA volleyball team lived up to its reputation Thursday by steamrolling Western Oregon in Monmouth, Oregon.

Sparked by Katelynn Zanders' 12 kills and Kayla McGlathery's nine kills and five blocks, the Seawolves swept Western Oregon 25-22, 25-16, 25-13 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.

The performance put the Seawolves back on track following a Saturday homecourt loss to No. 1-ranked Northwest Nazarene that ended their seven-match winning streak.

"Everyone knows we need to play better than we did against Northwest Nazarene, and I think that was enough to get them motivated and make them hungry tonight," UAA coach Chris Green said.

Hitting errors hampered UAA (18-4 overall, 12-2 GNAC) early in the first set, but the Seawolves got better as the set progressed.

Western Oregon (3-18, 1-12) built a 15-12 lead and was still up by three when UAA scored three straight points, two on Julia Mackey kills and one on a Western Oregon hitting error, to forge an 18-18 tie. The match was tied at 19, 20 and 21 before the Seawolves took the lead for good, 22-21, on another Western Oregon hitting error.

UAA, which finished the set with a 5-1 run, cruised after that. The Seawolves jumped to a 6-2 lead and never trailed in the second set, and a 5-0 run put them in command early in the third set.

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They hit .279 for the match, including .400 in the final set. McGlathery hit .412 with nine kills and two errors on 17 attempts, and Zanders hit .280 with 12 kills and five errors on 25 attacks.

The 12 kills gives Zanders, a junior outside hitter from Anchorage, 959 for her career. With 41 more, she will become the sixth player in school history to hit the 1,000-kill mark.

"It was a normal, good night for (Zanders)," Green said.

It was a good night for McGlathery too. She had a hand in five of UAA's eight blocks, including one solo effort.

Mackey, who is nursing a knee injury, finished with eight kills in two sets -- she didn't play the third set -- and Morgan Hooe ran a balanced offense by handing out 35 assists.

Quinn Barker's 11 digs anchored a defense that limited Western Oregon to .056 hitting. Zanders added eight digs and Hooe and Brooke Pottle registered seven apiece.

Thursday's victory continued a good week for the Seawolves, who broke into the national rankings for the first time this season, grabbing the No. 25 spot, and more importantly were ranked second in the first West Region poll of the season, a set of rankings that will determine postseason playoff berths.

Green said he hopes the off-the-court developments help propel the Seawolves through the final matches of the regular season, which includes just four more matches.

"I'm hoping it gives us a little more confidence, and maybe lets us know we need to prove that we're No. 2," he said. "We're not overconfident by any means."

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