With their top player out of the lineup with an injury, the UAA volleyball team got big games from Vanessa Hayes and Kayla McGlathery to turn back Concordia-Portland in a match Saturday afternoon at the Alaska Airlines Center.
Hayes blasted a career-high 19 kills and McGlathery racked up a double-double to lead the Seawolves to a four-set victory, 25-12, 22-25, 25-20, 25-8.
The win keeps UAA (18-6 overall, 13-3 conference) in second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The Seawolves played without sophomore Eve Stephens, the GNAC kill leader who missed the first match of her career. Two days after delivering 17 kills in a win over Western Oregon, Hayes helped fill the void with .459 percent hitting (19 kills, 2 errors on 37 attempts), and McGlathery came through with 11 kills and 10 blocks, one of them a solo effort.
“Any time you can win without your potential All-American, you’ll take it,” UAA coach Chris Green said in a press release from the school. “Our ladies did an excellent job of making the adjustments without Eve in the lineup, and Vanessa came through for the second match in a row with a gigantic performance.”
Ellen Floyd helped out with 40 assists, 15 digs, four blocks, four kills and three aces. Vera Pluharova had six blocks to help the Seawolves outblock Concordia 15-5, and Hannah Pembroke had seven kills and Jalisa Ingram had five to help them amass 10 more kills the the Cavaliers, 49-39.
Next for the Seawolves is a tough road trip. They play league-leading Western Washington on Thursday and face third-place Simon Fraser on Saturday. Then they return to town for their final two home matches of the season.