Katelynn Zanders, Julia Mackey and Leah Swiss crushed it Thursday night to keep the 12th-ranked UAA volleyball team undefeated.
All three outside hitters racked up double-figure kills to power the Seawolves to their ninth straight win of the season, a 25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 25-18 triumph over Western Oregon in Monmouth, Oregon.
Zanders blasted 22 kills, Mackey drilled 17 and Swiss added 12 in UAA's first Great Northwest Athletic Conference match of the season.
Their efforts helped UAA overcome what coach Chris Green said was a slow start, something he thinks the Seawolves must avoid Saturday if they want to extend their winning streak against conference newcomer Concordia University of Portland.
UAA and Concordia are both 9-0 overall and 1-0 in the GNAC, with Concordia winning its league debut Thursday with a sweep of UAF.
"I'll tell you what, we'll have to play better overall on Saturday night, because the Concordia team is very, very good," Green said by phone. "We definitely can't play the way we did in games 1 and 2."
After hitting better than .300 in its previous six matches, UAA hit .167 in the first set and .231 in the second set, winning the first and losing the second.
"We just didn't come out strong. We didn't look sharp offensively," Green said. "It is pretty concerning, because we had been on a pretty good roll."
UAA took command in the third and fourth sets when Zanders, Mackey and Swiss got hot. The Seawolves hit .433 in the third set and .344 in the fourth, making a combined seven hitting errors after committing 14 in the first two sets.
"Our pin hitters did very well," Green said, using a term that applies to outside hitters, who attack the ball near the antenna – or pin – on either side of the net. "In games 3 and 4 they were on fire. They all hit very well."
Zanders amassed her 22 kills on 40 attacks, making just five errors for a .425 attack percentage. Mackey hit .344 with 17 kills and six errors on 32 attacks and Swiss hit .360 with 12 kills and three errors on 25 attacks. Zanders added three aces and Swiss served two.
Setting up those attacks was junior Morgan Hooe, whose 55 assists matched her career-best.
Zanders added a team-high 17 digs, libero Kyla Militante-Amper had 16 and Mackey 15 as the Seawolves outdug Western Oregon 63-54. Alisa Bettinson led the Wolves (3-7 overall, 0-1 GNAC) with 14 kills and 12 digs.
Western Oregon grabbed a 6-2 lead in the third set, giving the Seawolves a scare before they started clicking offensively. Green said his team needs to get used to such tests now that the conference season has begun – and now that the Seawolves are nationally ranked.
"Every team that we play is gonna come out and give us their best show and prepare hard for us, and that's what (Western Oregon) did," he said. "We were playing tense in games 1 and 2. We've got to get back to playing like the underdog sometimes."