The hometown connection came through and so did the middle blockers Saturday night for a UAA volleyball team that is getting the job done on the road.
The Seawolves won their fourth straight road match Saturday night, rallying from a first-set loss to beat Saint Martin's 19-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 in Lacey, Washington.
"I think the last three games tonight were some of the best volleyball we've played all year," UAA coach Chris Green said by chellphone. "That's good to see. We're getting to the end of the season so you like to see us getting better and better."
Dimond High alums Leah Swiss and Chrisalyn Johnson combined for 24 kills and 24 digs, and middle blockers Tara Melton and Vanessa Hayes each racked up 10 kills and three block assists to lead the Seawolves.
The win pushes UAA's record to 14-7 overall and 9-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Saint Martin's dropped to 8-12, 3-9.
After losing the first set, the Seawolves trailed 10-5 in the second set before climbing out of the hole. They were in control for the remaining two sets.
Melton, a 6-foot junior, turned in a stellar performance. She registered 10 kills and one error on 13 attacks for a .692 attack percentage.
Hayes hit .286 with four errors on 21 attacks and Swiss hit .238 to help UAA to a team attack percentage of .267.
Casey Davenport ran the offense with 42 assists while also contributing six kills, five digs and two aces.
"There's gotta be a connection between the setter and middles … and Casey did a good job of feeding the middles," Green said. "Casey has had two pretty good matches in a row now setting the ball."
Keala Kaio-Perez provided a team-high 24 digs and Taylor Noga, an East High grad, contributed 10 digs and served three of UAA's eight aces.
The Seawolves return home this week for two matches at the Alaska Airlines Center. They face Central Washington on Thursday and league-leading Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
"We've got two big matches coming up at home," Green said. "We've lost to both of the teams that are coming to Anchorage at their place so hopefully we can come out and play with some of the same energy we had tonight."