The UAA volleyball team posted some big numbers and reached some big milestones Friday night in Canada. But there's little time for the Seawolves to focus on their accomplishments.
Their four-set win over Simon Fraser came less than 24 hours before one of their biggest matches of the season – a Saturday night battle against Western Washington for conference supremacy and possibly more. The winner of the match could very well wind up hosting the NCAA West Region tournament.
UAA used a season-high 16 blocks, including 10 from middle blocker Caitlin Hanson, to subdue Simon Fraser 25-21, 25-12, 24-26, 25-18 Friday in Burnaby, British Columbia. The win improved the 11th-ranked Seawolves to 23-2 overall and 15-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Western Washington is also 15-2, and with three matches remaining in the regular season for each team, the winner of Saturday's showdown in Bellingham, Washington, is likely to claim the conference championship.
"It's kind of what we've worked all year for," UAA coach Chris Green said. "It's not the end of the season but it's definitely a match to possibly, or probably, determine the GNAC championship.
"That's fun, that's why we play."
Katelynn Zanders, Julia Mackey and Leah Swiss each slammed 10 kills, Hanson put down nine and Erin Braun had eight in a balanced attack for the Seawolves, who hit .221.
UAA enjoyed career highs from three players. Hanson posted a career-high in blocks with one solo block and nine block assists, Zanders tallied a career-high 22 digs for her 13th double-double of the season and 33rd of her four-year career, and Kyla Militante-Amper had 23 digs to match her career best.
Swiss, a freshman, came up with 11 digs for the fourth double-double of her young career. She added a match-high three aces.
Mackey supplied eight digs and seven blocks, and Morgan Hooe totaled 43 assists, eight digs, four blocks and three kills.
"We did a good job defensively in the front row with the block, and we also did a good job defensively in the back row," Green said.
Simon Fraser (12-13, 8-9) was led Devon May's 11 kills and 18 digs.
In terms of team milestones for the Seawolves, there were two:
-- The 23 wins are the second most in program history, matching the efforts of the 1989 and 2009 teams. One more win will tie the school record of 24, owned by the 1990 and 1992 teams.
-- The 23-2 record clinches the best winning percentage in program history. Last year's team set the record of .778 with a 21-6 record. Right now UAA's winning percentage is .920.
Saturday's 6 p.m. AST match is UAA's final road match of the regular season. The Seawolves play Concordia and Western Oregon at home next week.
As the top-ranked team in the West Region – Western Washington is No. 2 – UAA has a shot at hosting the West Region playoffs if it can beat Western Washington and maintain its No. 1 ranking in the region. The Vikings beat UAA in Anchorage last month.
"I think we're pretty relaxed and ready to go," Green said.