For their latest volleyball victory, the undefeated and nationally ranked Seawolves put on a defensive clinic.
So did Seattle Pacific. And that turned Thursday night's match into a taut, it-ain't-over-till-it's-over battle.
Sure, UAA swept the Falcons, 25-13, 25-21, 26-24 to win its 13th straight match, matching the longest winning streak in program history.
But both teams played such scrappy and heads-up defense that many points came after long rallies during which diggers frustrated hitters. Attacks that seemed fated to become blistering kills instead were saved by sprawling Seawolves and Falcons.
The teams combined for a mind-blowing 134 digs – 72 for UAA, 62 for SPU – and many were spectacular. There were enough pancakes – diving saves made when a hand flattened to the floor keeps the ball from hitting the ground -- to open an IHOP.
"You have to really stay focused and know the point's not over yet and play to the whistle," UAA middle blocker Erin Braun said.
The No. 8-ranked Seawolves ran their record to 13-0, 5-0 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, in front of a crowd of 1,339. The turnout marked the second straight mid-week match that drew more than 1,300 to the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Falcons slipped to 4-9, 2-3, "but SPU is much better than their record," UAA coach Chris Green said.
They sure were Thursday. The Falcons were defensively feisty from the start and got better as the match went on. They grabbed a 4-0 lead in the third set, an entertaining affair that included eight ties, including 22-22 and 24-24.
Katelyn Zanders, UAA's powerful senior outside hitter, delivered two authoritative digs for UAA's 25th and 26th points.
Match point came on a play that did justice to a match defined by tenaciousness. UAA's Taylor Noga stumbled when trying to handle an SPU attack and wasn't able to make a pass. But Julia Mackey chased down the ball and turned nothing into something – the kill by Zanders.
"Making the ball better," is how Green described it.
Mackey and Zanders both racked up double-doubles for the Seawolves. Mackey slammed a match-high 13 kills on .360 percent hitting and added 16 digs, and Zanders provided 10 kills on .233 hitting and 14 digs.
Leah Swiss added nine kills and Braun had eight.to help the Seawolves to a .242 attack percentage. That's below their season average, but most teams would be happy to hit that well.
"They came in hitting .295 and we held them to .242, so good for us – but .295 is phenomenal," Falcons coach Chris Johnson said of the UAA attack percentage, the sixth-best in NCAA Division II. "There can't be many teams hitting better than that."
The big numbers on the stat sheet belonged, not surprisingly, to the liberos. UAA's Kyla Militante-Amber came up with 23 digs and SPU's Breanne Wiekamp had 21.
Johnson said he is a defensive-minded coach, and his team reflects that. Yet UAA, which is known for its potent offense, showed it could get it done defensively too.
"Their defense matched their offense tonight," Johnson said. "They're defense outplayed ours, and our offense did nothing, although we had a lot of good swings."
The Falcons opened with a first-set attack percentage of zero and finished with an .059 percentage, with no one reaching double figures in digs.
SPU is young but promising, often playing with three freshmen and two sophomores. UAA also played a number of freshmen – Swiss, Militante-Amber, Noga and Alex Garrett, a middle blocker who played in place of senior Caitlin Hanson, who sat out with a sprained ankle.
"I don't know if we played our best match," Green said, "but we played scrappy against a great defensive team."
And the Seawolves kept their winning streak going. They can break the program record Saturday when they host Saint Martin's at 7 p.m.
Matching the record 13-match winning streak set by Green's 2009 squad is nice, "but it's more important that we're getting better and better," Green said. "Today we struggled, so we'll work on being better on Saturday than we were tonight."