UAA Athletics

UAA volleyball team battles for 3rd place; hockey team gears up for annual scrimmage

The volleyball team will battle for third place in the conference standings and the hockey team will play its annual scrimmage this week at UAA, which is also welcoming coaching additions to the hockey team and the men’s basketball teams.

The volleyball team continues a three-match homestand with games Thursday and Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (8-4 overall, 3-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) play Central Washington (8-4, 3-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday in a match that will decide which of those teams will grab sole possession of third place in the GNAC. On Saturday, UAA faces Northwest Nazarene (5-6, 1-3 going into a Thursday match against Fairbanks).

Leading the Seawolves is sophomore outside hitter Eve Stephens of Palmer, who leads the conference in kills per set with 4.02. As a team, UAA leads the GNAC with 2.28 aces per set and ranks second in blocks per set with 2.50.

On Saturday, the UAA hockey team will play its annual Green and Gold intrasquad scrimmage. Faceoff is 3 p.m. at the Seawolf Sports Complex.

A couple of new faces will be on sideline. PD Melgoza has joined the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach who will work with goaltenders, and Travis Ward is the team’s new equipment manager.

Melgoza, who is also joining the AK Goaltending staff, spent the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, who he worked as an assistant coach for the organization’s youth teams and was the assistant director of goaltending. He also spent time as an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount and as a Junior A scout.

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Ward comes to UAA after three years in the Washington Capitals organization, where his duties included repair of equipment.

The men’s basketball team has a new coach too, and he’s a familiar face.

Kyle Fossman, a guard from Haines who scored 1,237 points during a four-year career with the Seawolves, is joining Rusty Osborne’s staff six years after his final season with the team.

Fossman played for UAA from 2010-14. After graduating with a degree in accounting, he played professional basketball for one season in Germany before returning to Haines. There, he stayed involved with the game as a coach and an official and by starting a summer skills youth basketball camp.

Fossman joins a staff that includes Osborne and associate coach Ryan Orton.

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