A pair of big performances last weekend by two UAA athletes didn't go unnoticed on the national front.
Runner Caroline Kurgat earned national and conference awards and hockey goaltender Olivier Mantha garnered a conference honor and a shout-out on Twitter from the NCAA for an acrobatic save against North Dakota.
For the second time this season, Kurgat was named the Division II national athlete of the week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. This time, she was honored after she bested a field of 359 runners in a race in Romeoville, Illinois.
Kurgat, a two-time All-American from Eldoret, Kenya, breezed to a 12-second victory in the 6-kilometer Division II Conference Crossover, finishing in 21 minutes, 18.9 seconds.
She's the first UAA runner to win the national award twice in the same season. She also picked up athlete-of-the-week honors in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
On the ice, Mantha's clutch two-game performance against then-No. 7 North Dakota earned him the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's goalie of the week award.
Mantha finished the series with 74 saves, many of them highlight-reel worthy. He posted a .948 save percentage to carry the Seawolves to a tie and an overtime loss.
One of Mantha's diving saves was tabbed an "early candidate for national save of the year" by the NCAA's official hockey Twitter account.
"I think this weekend I was just seeing the puck well and I think the guys played well in front of me," Mantha said Tuesday. "So they made my job easy on some occasions, and when I had to make saves it just worked out."
Early candidate for national save of the year by @UAAHockey's Olivier Mantha.#didhedothat pic.twitter.com/1GcLqtOEGZ
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) October 8, 2017
Anholt expected to miss significant time
The Seawolves will continue to play without senior captain and returning points leader Matt Anholt, who sustained a knee injury in the first period of Friday's game.
Thomas said the team is still waiting for MRI results to know the extent of Anholt's injury, but he said Anholt will be out for a "pretty significant" amount of time.
"We'll find out more as the week goes on," Thomas said.
The Seawolves (0-1-1) are hunting for their first win this week when they hit the road for a two-game nonconference series against Colorado College (1-1-0) Friday and Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Seawolves haven't played the Tigers since 2013.
In Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss, the Seawolves played most of the game without right winger Austin Azurdia, who was booted on a game misconduct penalty 20 seconds into the first period.
Without Anholt and Azurdia, UAA struggled to generate offense, but Thomas said he was proud of how his team stayed competitive.
[Frosh start: Newcomers help UAA hockey team open season strong]
"We had a chance each night to win the game," he said.
With Anholt out and 12 freshmen on the roster, Thomas said he'll continue to experiment with the lineup.
UAA's three goals were scored by three different players and four players were credited with assists.
"Our lineup is going to change quite a bit here for the first month to two months," Thomas said. "We've got a lot of bodies, we need to get guys in, we need to see what guys can do."
The Seawolves are also without freshman goaltender Kristian Stead, who tore his ACL in UAA's Green and Gold scrimmage in September.
Volleyball team comfortable on road
A UAA volleyball team that is 1-3 in its last four matches will play its next four matches on the road.
But that doesn't bother coach Chris Green.
"Sometimes I think being on the road is good for us," he said. "We kind of are able to control what our players are eating and when they're going to bed.
"I think we play pretty well on the road, so to me it's not a big disadvantage."
The Seawolves (10-7, 5-3 GNAC) play at Concordia (8-7, 3-5) on Friday and Western Oregon (6-9, 2-6) on Saturday. Then they go to Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's for Oct. 19 and Oct. 21 showdowns.
The Seawolves are still looking for their groove without setter Madison Fisher and right side hitter Diana Fa'amausili, who were dismissed earlier this month for violating team rules.
Green said two players who have stepped up are freshman setter Casey Davenport and senior right side hitter Anais Vargas.
"I think Casey did a good job in the 5-1 and Anais … can play on the left and on the right," Green said.
Despite an up-and-down season, UAA is thriving on the serve. The Seawolves lead the GNAC with 2.0 aces per set — well above second-place UAF's 1.68.
Junior outside hitter Leah Swiss leads the league with 0.58 aces per set and senior libero Keala Kaio-Perez is second at 0.49. Swiss has 40 aces and Kaio-Perez has 34.
"We miss some, but we're an aggressive-serving team," Green said. "We pride ourselves in keeping the other team out of their system.
"I think we've been doing a pretty good job of keeping other teams from passing the ball to their setter."