The UAA volleyball team ran into a red-hot rival Saturday night in Bellingham, Washington.
The Seawolves couldn't sustain their momentum against nationally ranked Western Washington, following two good sets with two bad sets to tumble 25-23, 18-25, 25-13, 25-11 in a meeting between the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's most dominant programs.
Neither team hit exceptionally well, but the Vikings (11-3 overall, 6-0 GNAC) made fewer errors en route to their 11th straight victory. UAA (11-3, 4-2) lost for the first time in five matches.
Senior outside Chrisalyn Johnson and freshman middle blocker Eve Stephens led UAA with double-figure kills. Johnson furnished 10 kills, 14 digs and four block assists, and Stephen had 14 kills and two block assists.
UAA struggled to a .099 attack percentage while Western Washington hit .199 behind 14 kills from Kayleigh Harper, who also had six blocks, and 11 from Abby Phelps, who added 19 digs.
UAA trailed 17-11 in the first set before mounting a comeback that brought them within a point, 24-23. The Vikings fended off the Seawolves by scoring set-point on a block.
The Seawolves won the next set but Western Washington toughened up to sail to victories in the third and fourth sets.
"We played some of our best volleyball of the season in the second set," UAA coach Chris Green said in a press release from the school. "Unfortunately we couldn't find a spark in the last two sets, and you can't give anything but your best effort against a team of that caliber and expect to be successful."
The Seawolves are back home this week for a Thursday match against Concordia and a Saturday match against Western Oregon at the Alaska Airlines Center.