UAA winning streak ends in epic 5-set volleyball match

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UAA’s Leah Swiss hits the floor for a dig. UAA faced Western Washington in volleyball at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage on Saturday. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News)

A crowd of 1,762 watched the end of the UAA volleyball team's school-record winning streak Saturday night at the Alaska Airlines Center.

In a tense duel between two nationally ranked teams, 19th-ranked Western Washington upended the seventh-ranked Seawolves in a back-and-forth match that lasted five sets — and then some.

The final set of a volleyball match typically ends at 15 points, but this one went into overtime. The set was tied 13 times and the lead exchanged hands seven times before the Vikings finally ended it.

WWU's Abby Phelps took advantage of a UAA overpass and slapped the ball to the floor for match point, lifting Western Washington to a 25-22, 21-25, 26-24, 18-25, 20-18 victory. The halted UAA's winning streak at 20 and ended its quest for an undefeated conference season.

The match between the two best teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference — and two of the best in the country — was a thriller from start to finish.

The teams were tied 45 times and they traded the lead 21 times over the course of 2 hours and 33 minutes.

And they produced some staggering statistics.

Western Washington racked up 13 blocks and 94 digs, and UAA piled up 73 kills and 97 digs. The Vikings logged 199 attack attempts and 57 kills; the Seawolves tallied 214 attack attempts and 73 kills.

Even the attendance figure was notable — it was the biggest crowd in the nation this season for a NCAA Division II volleyball match.

The loss was the first for UAA since Aug. 26, when it lost a three-set road match to Chaminade University in Hawaii.

A pair of sophomore middle blockers helped Western Washington (14-6 overall, 10-2 GNAC) put up an imposing wall. Six-foot-one Michaela Hall had two solo blocks and five block assists and 6-3 Kayleigh Harper had six block assists.

Those two combined for 19 kills and Phelps, a 5-10 sophomore outside hitter who added four block assists, furnished a double-double with 14 kills and 16 kills.

UAA (21-2, 11-1) had some even bigger numbers. Chrisalyn Johnson, a 5-9 sophomore, posted a career-high 22 kills and 17 digs. Kyla Militante-Amper, a 5-3 sophomore, had a school-record 43 digs. Diana Fa'amausili, a 5-11 freshman, blasted a career-high 17 kills. And Morgan Hooe, a 5-7 senior, had a career-high 59 assists.

Everyone in the lineup for UAA made significant contributions. Sophomore Leah Swiss notched her ninth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs, ever-steady senior Erin Braun was good for nine kills, seven block assists and three aces, sophomore Taylor Noga had 13 digs and freshman Vanessa Hayes had eight kills.

But not all of UAA's numbers were good. The Seawolves made 13 service errors against just four aces, and they made 35 hitting errors.

"I'm really proud of the grit and determination we showed tonight," Hooe said at a postgame press conference. "Aside from me and Erin, we're a very young team, so it was a good learning experience for us. I think we'll be stronger in the long run after a match like this."

The Seawolves don't have to wait long to try to get back in the win column. They host UAF in a Tuesday night match at the Alaska Airlines Center.