Eve Stephens smashed 22 kills and three others reached double figures Saturday night to propel the UAA volleyball team to a four-set win over Montana State Billings.
Hannah Pembroke had a career-best 11 kills, Vera Pluharova matched her career-best with 10 and Vanessa Hayes put down 10 kills while serving five aces to spark the 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 25-10 victory.
The Seawolves hit .320 as a team, an attack percentage the featured 52 assists from Ellen Floyd and some impressive individual hitting efforts. Stephens, a sophomore who finished one kill shy of her career best, turned 22 of her 42 attempts into kills for a .405 hitting percentage; Pluharova hit .533 and Pembroke hit .391.
An Alaska Airlines Center crowd of 866 was on hand to watch UAA’s first home match since Sept. 7. The win moved the Seawolves to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and dropped Billings to 4-9, 2-2.
The Seawolves grabbed control of the match by scoring the final four points of the pivotal third set, which was tied 18-18, 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22.
A kill by Pluharova evened the scored at 22-22, and a kill by Stephens gave UAA the lead for good. Floyd followed with an ace and then fed Stephens for the set-point kill at the end of a long rally kept alive by one of Anjoilyn Vreeland’s eight digs.
Nine UAA players furnished digs, with Talia Leauanae leading the way with 10 and Floyd providing eight.
The Seawolves will play their next two matches at home, Thursday against Central Washington and Saturday against Northwest Nazarene.