UAA Athletics

UAA volleyball team takes win streak into pair of home matches

The UAA volleyball team is back home this week following a three-game road trip during which the Seawolves fashioned their longest winning streak of the season.

After failing to win more than two in a row in their first eight matches, the Seawolves won once in Fairbanks and twice in Montana last week to push their record to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Not that winning three straight on the road did the Seawolves any good in the national rankings. They slipped two spots to No. 20 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association's NCAA Division II poll.

That's the lowest UAA has ranked since Sept. 7, 2015. The Seawolves started the season in the No. 4 spot.

UAA's three-game winning streak and undefeated GNAC record — and quite possibly its continued presence in the Top 25 rankings — will be on the line in a pair of conference matches at the Alaska Airlines Center.

UAA plays Saint Martin's (6-4, 1-1) on Thursday and Seattle Pacific (6-4, 1-1) on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.

The Seawolves are 30-4 all-time against Saint Martin's, but the Saints look better than ever, UAA coach Chris Green said at a Tuesday press conference.

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"Saint Martin's just upset Concordia on Saturday, so they're a pretty solid team," he said. "… They're better than they have been in the past."

Green said consistently good serving and passing has distinguished his team in recent matches, "and we hope to continue that."

UAA ranks second in the GNAC and 29th nationally in aces with 2.02 per set, an effort led by Keala Kaio-Perez with 24 aces and Leah Swiss with 22. Three others have 10 or more to help UAA rack up 93 aces in 11 matches.

Saturday's match will feature the second annual Dig for Liz fundraiser to raise money for the Liz Hooe Memorial Scholarship. A scholarship will be awarded that night, Green said.

Hooe, who died of cancer in 2012, was the mother of Morgan Hooe, who ended an All-America career with UAA last season, and the wife of Virgil Hooe, a volunteer coach for the Seawolves.

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