It's a big week to be a Seawolf.
UAA boasts four teams in the Division II national rankings, and two of them will play at home this week while the other two will race for glory in Oregon.
Six games are on tap Thursday through Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center, including two featuring the 11th-ranked volleyball team and two featuring the 7th-ranked women's basketball team.
The week is particularly huge for the volleyball team, which will be playing to preserve its spot at the top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The Seawolves (20-2 overall, 12-2 GNAC) are tied for first place with three other teams, and two of them are coming to the Alaska Airlines Center.
"We have a huge test – two of them," UAA coach Chris Green said.
UAA plays 25th-ranked Central Washington (16-5, 10-2) Thursday at 7 p.m. and Northwest Nazarene (15-7, 12-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday. Northwest Nazarene ended UAA's 14-match, season-opening winning streak last month in Nampa, Idaho.
The big matches should draw big crowds. The Seawolves lead Division II in attendance, and four times this season they have drawn record crowds; the biggest was 1,837 for the Simon Fraser match nearly three weeks ago.
"Hopefully we'll have another big crowd," senior middle blocker Caitlin Hanson said. "The energy (the fans) bring is great, and I know they feed off us too."
Both matches are part of basketball/volleyball doubleheaders.
At 4 p.m. Thursday, the women's basketball team opens its home season with the first of two games against New Hope Christian of Eugene, Oregon.
At 4 p.m. Saturday, the men's basketball team plays Lincoln Christian of Nebraska.
Friday offers a basketball doubleheader, with the women tipping off at 5:15 p.m. and the men at 7:30 p.m.
The women's games will mark the return of former Dimond High star Keiahnna Engel, a guard who graduated from Boise State last spring but still has one season of basketball eligibility.
"I had a great four years at Boise State," said Engel, who took a redshirt season between her freshman and sophomore seasons with the Broncos. "I'm ready to come home and play in front of family and people I know."
The women's basketball team, which is coming off a stellar 29-2 season, is 3-0 after a successful run in California last week.
The men were less successful in California, going 1-2 with one of their losses coming to nationally ranked Cal Baptist.
While the women's team is teeming with returners, the men have three. They added seven transfers, including Division I transfer Suki Wiggs, a former Idaho guard who is averaging 25 points a game for the Seawolves.
"We're kind of all new guys now," said Travis Parrish, a junior in his second season at UAA. "I feel like a new guy too.
"It's a totally different team. It's fun having a new group – as long as we do well."
The other big event happening for UAA is the West Region cross country championships in Monmouth, Oregon, where the Seawolves will be among the favorites.
The men, ranked fifth in the nation, will be chasing their third team championship and the women, ranked sixth, will go for their fifth.
Individually, UAA sophomore Henry Cheseto is the defending West Region champ. Both he and teammate Joyce Chelimo, who redshirted last year to accommodate the birth of her first child, are coming off victories two weeks ago in the GNAC championships.
Coach Michael Friess likened the West Regions to the national semifinals, because berths in the NCAA championships will be at stake.
UAA's cross country teams are helping to put Alaska runners in the national spotlight. Last weekend Anchorage construction worker Jeffrey Young placed second in his age group at the New York City Marathon, and Soldotna's Allie Ostrander is taking Division I cross country by storm as a freshman at Boise State.
"I like to think what we're doing has opened some eyes," Friess said. "We've got a lot of great talent in this state, and we're a part of that."
This week at the Alaska Airlines Center
Thursday
4 p.m. -- UAA women's basketball vs. New Hope Christian
7 p.m. -- UAA volleyball vs. Central Washington
Friday
5:15 p.m. -- UAA women's basketball vs. New Hope Christian
7:30 p.m. -- UAA men's basketball vs. Lincoln Christian
Saturday
4 p.m. -- UAA men's basketball vs. Lincoln Christian
7 p.m. -- UAA volleyball vs. Northwest Nazarene