Sports

Winning streak ends for seventh-ranked UAA volleyball team

The UAA volleyball team lost for the first time this season Thursday night, its 14-match winning streak ending with a four-set loss to Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho.

The Seawolves turned in their worst offensive performance of the season on a night when two sophomores guided the Crusaders to a 25-23, 28-26, 25-27, 25-22 victory in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.

UAA made 31 hitting errors while posting a season-low attack percentage of .125. Senior outside hitters Katelynn Zanders and Julia Mackey, usually a potent combination, finished with 24 kills but 19 errors.

"We played scared," UAA coach Chris Green said. "Offensively we played scared, so that's what happens. We were playing not to lose instead of just going for it."

UAA (14-1 overall, 6-1 GNAC) entered the match as the nation's seventh-ranked Division II team. A rowdy crowd of 950 watched the Crusaders (8-7, 5-2) derail the Seawolves with 15 blocks.

"We've had some practices that haven't been very good lately so I was totally worried about it," Green said. "We couldn't slow them down and our hitters didn't get the job done."

Even so, UAA was in every set and had a chance to score set-point in the second set but was foiled by a Crusader block.

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"It could've been 1-1 (after two sets) despite us being completely outhit and outplayed," Green said. "So we did some things OK. We must have to put up offensive numbers like we did and still be within two or three points each game."

Five UAA players posted double-figure digs, with Kyla Militante-Amper registering 16 and Zanders 15. Northwest Nazarene had a slight edge in that category, 73-72.

Leah Swiss was UAA's most reliable hitter, slamming 13 kills against six errors. But too often the Seawolves tipped balls instead of swinging away at them, Green said.

Leading the way for Northwest Nazarene was 6-foot-2 sophomore middle blocker Madi Ferrell, who delivered 17 kills on .433 hitting and had a hand in eight blocks, and 5-10 sophomore setter Hailey Cook, who handed out 51 assists.

UAA plays against Saturday against Central Washington, which puts up an even bigger block than Northwest Nazarene. Green said he hopes the team takes a more aggressive approach into the match.

"I guess mentally they didn't come ready for a dogfight," he said. "Hopefully they realize they need to be aggressive and they can't play not to lose."

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