UAA avoids WOU upset bid, wins 3-2 in Monmouth

Monmouth, Oregon (Oct. 25) - Senior Tia Allen had 17 kills and freshman Emma Beck delivered six of her 11 kills on the fourth and fifth sets Saturday to propel the UAA volleyball team to an 18-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-11 victory over Western Oregon at the New P.E. Building.

The Seawolves (17-4, 8-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 22 digs from senior libero Madison Galloway as they improved to 6-0 in five-set matches and stayed within one match of the league co-leaders in the GNAC standings.

The Wolves (2-17, 1-10) were led by 33 kills and 26 digs from outside hitter Maela Honma, who produced eight more kills than this year's previous GNAC high.

"We knew going in that they were a much better team than their record," said UAA head coach Stacie Meisner. "We were gritty and scored points in critical moments to get to the fifth set, and everyone stepped up to contribute to the winning effort."

After trailing throughout the opening set, the Seawolves got six kills from junior outside hitter Lee Ivakina in the second, including a smash to break a 24-24 tie and another on set point.

The hosts ended the third with a 12-7 run, getting a set-point kill from Honma, and led 14-10 in the fourth before the Seawolves started their winning surge.

Martina Riba made a solo block on Honma and Allen served an ace to make it 19-19, and UAA took a 22-21 edge on a Wolves attack error. Bella Burney smashed a kill - originally called out but overturned upon challenge - to make it 24-22, and freshman setter Johana Malikova came through with a solo block of Melissa Hadley to send it the distance.

WOU shaved an early 8-3 disadvantage down to one point in the fifth set, but Allen and Beck came through with big kills to re-extend to 11-9 and 12-10 leads. Following a Wolves error, Allen served her second ace, and Beck cleverly knocked the winning kill off the WOU block on the second try at match point.

Beck hit an errorless .393 (11-0-28), including a perfect three kills on three swings in the fifth, while Allen also contributed 12 digs and a career-high seven assists.

Ivakina had 14 kills and 13 digs to match Allen with her 12th double-double, and Riba had seven kills and five total blocks, including a pair of solos. Burney had seven kills and four total blocks.

UAA got a combined 44 assists from its setting combo of Malikova and sophomore Hannah Trotter, with Trotter collecting career highs of four kills and 20 digs.

Junior transfer Elena Hansen came through with a key effort as well, making a season-high 15 digs and serving her lone ace in the fifth set.

The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center for five of their final seven regular-season matches, beginning Friday (7:30 p.m.) against arch-rival and nationally ranked Alaska Fairbanks. Find tickets, live links and more at GoSeawolves.com.