One winning streak is over, but the No. 11 UAA volleyball team kept another one going Tuesday night at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Seawolves defeated in-state rival UAF for the 12th straight time. UAA swept the Nanooks 25-19, 25-11, 25-21 to return to the win column after its program-record, 20-match winning streak was snapped Saturday against Western Washington.
"I think it was a good bounce-back game for us," UAA coach Chris Green said. "Maybe not the best volleyball at times, but at other times you saw some very good volleyball. Offensively we were a lot more efficient than we were Saturday night."
A trio of Anchorage athletes powered the UAA offense in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
Sophomore outside hitter Leah Swiss (Dimond High) led UAA with 13 kills and a career-high .632 hitting percentage, sophomore outside hitter Chrisalyn Johnson (Dimond) racked up a double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs and senior setter Morgan Hooe (South) supplied 35 assists and five kills on eight attacks.
As a team, UAA hit .337 and held UAF to an .097 percentage.
Swiss said a focus on passing in practice contributed to the big numbers.
"It all starts with the pass," Swiss said. "We had some points in the game that weren't too good, but I think overall we passed really well. If we can pass good, then usually our offensive numbers go up too."
UAF (2-18, 1-12 GNAC) came into the match in last place in the conference, but the feisty Nanooks gave UAA (22-2, 12-1) some trouble in the first and third sets.
The first set was tied 17-17 before UAA finished on an 8-2 run that included three kills by Swiss.
The second set was all UAA. The Seawolves ended it on an 11-2 run and hit .421 while holding UAF to a negative hitting percentage.
But the Nanooks didn't go out easily. Despite trailing by as many as six points in the third set, they came back to tie it 21-21, taking advantage of 10 UAA errors in the set.
The Seawolves regained momentum when Hooe went up and made a no-look kill behind her head at the net to put UAA up 22-21.
The Seawolves took the next three points, the last two by Johnson, to complete the sweep.
"(UAF) was a pretty good team in the third game there," Green said. "They actually played very well and battled for that third game."
Rachel Nichols and Jeane Amberly led UAF with seven kills apiece, and Meagan Olsen chipped in 15 digs. Olsen, a West Valley grad, is one of four Alaskans who play for UAF. UAA has six.
Among the 1,222 fans in attendance, a portion sat behind the UAF bench, sporting the Nanooks' blue and yellow on sweatshirts and homemade signs.
"It's really cool seeing players I played in high school, seeing them on the other side in UAF jerseys," Swiss said. "I think it's really cool because coming from Alaska it's hard to play college volleyball, so it's nice seeing them out there."
Next up for UAA is the final match of a four-match home stint. The Seawolves face Montana State-Billings at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The match will be UAA's fourth in seven days. It's a quick turnaround for practice too — the Seawolves will hit the gym first thing Wednesday morning.
"We have early morning practice tomorrow, so it's important for these guys to get to bed so we can get up and practice in the morning," Green said. "I think that's more important than anything. After two five-setters, it's nice to get done with a match in three."