Queen's "We Are The Champions" rang through the Alaska Airlines Center on Thursday after the 11th-ranked UAA volleyball team earned at least a share of the conference championship by turning close wins in two sets into a three-set sweep over Concordia University.
The Seawolves won 25-21, 25-23, 25-14 to clinch a tie for the Great Northwest Athletic Association title and extend their winning streak to 10 matches.
UAA (25-2, GNAC 17-2) can win the GNAC title outright with a win Saturday over Western Oregon in the regular-season finale. Even if they lose and wind up with the same conference record as second-place Western Washington, the Seawolves hold the tiebreaker, guaranteeing them an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
"We had to work hard," UAA coach Chris Green said. "Concordia is a good team. They blocked very well and gave us some trouble in the first two (sets), but finally we got it rolling a little bit to start swinging a little bit higher in the third."
UAA displayed a balanced attack in the win. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Leah Swiss led the team with 13 kills, hitting .323 percent, senior Katelynn Zanders added 12 kills and 10 digs and senior Julia Mackey had 12 kills. Junior setter Morgan Hooe provided 39 assists and 13 digs and freshman libero Kyla Militante-Amper had 17 digs.
Concordia (17-10, 9-10) kept it close through the first two sets. Junior outside hitter Brenna Huwe led the Cavaliers with nine kills and 11 digs.
The first set was tied 19-19 before back-to-back kills by Swiss started a 4-0 run for the Seawolves and led to the 25-21 win.
UAA trailed 19-17 in the second set until a "miracle dig" by Militante-Amper put the Seawolves back on track.
Militante-Amper slid out of bounds to save the ball right in front of her bench and then Hooe sent the ball all the way over the net from the back row. Swiss later finished the volley with a kill to bring UAA to within one point.
Swiss slammed another kill on the next volley to tie the set at 19-19. UAA went on to win the set 25-23 on a kill by senior outside hitter Katelynn Zanders.
"In practice we never let a ball hit the ground without a body going (down), so when we do that in practice, it just carries over to the games," Swiss said. "So we get those miracle digs and we get the ball up and we get the point and that's when the momentum switches and we go and get the win."
Green said the slow start may have been the result of two big wins on the road last week. UAA beat Simon Frazier in four sets on Thursday before sweeping then-No. 16 Western Washington on Saturday to take sole possession of the GNAC lead.
"I think we saw how high of a level we could play when we played Western Washington and even Simon Frazier last weekend on the road," Green said. "I think we have high expectations. Whether or not it's because of those previous wins, I don't know. We're playing pretty well right now, so hopefully we keep it going."
The Seawolves round out the regular season Saturday with Senior Night against Western Oregon at 7 p.m. A victory would put UAA in good position to host the NCAA Division II West Region playoffs.
"It's awesome to finish the season at home," Swiss said. "Especially for the seniors. ... (I)t's really cool to be at home and watch them play their last game here."