Resilient Seawolves forge sweep of Saints

Anchorage (Sept. 27) - Junior outside hitter Lee Ivakina had 11 kills and 15 digs as the UAA volleyball team used late comebacks in the second and third sets Saturday to earn a 25-10, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of Saint Martin's at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (13-1, 4-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got eight kills and 10 digs from senior outside hitter Tia Allen, running their winning streak to six and staying tied atop the league standings with Alaska Fairbanks and Western Washington.

The Saints (8-3, 1-2) got nine kills from rightside hitter Mason Kingsley, but GNAC kills leader Emily Garten - who entered with 4.33 per set - was held to seven kills on .000 hitting by the UAA defense.

"We only had two blocks on the stat sheet, but our blockers still did a nice job of making life tough on their hitters and limiting their effectiveness," said UAA head coach Stacie Meisner. "Offensively we showed great balance again, with both of our setters having outstanding matches."

Seeking its 33rd win in the last 34 series meetings, UAA came out firing on all cylinders with a .481 to .033 hitting advantage in the opening set.

Things were much tougher from there, with Saint Martin's forging a 19-14 lead after three straight Seawolf attack errors in set two. Freshman Bailee Tucker - who returned from a nine-match injury absence - uncorked a kill to start an 8-1 UAA surge at that juncture, and Allen kept the hosts up 23-21 and 24-22 with kills, before acing the Saints on set point.

The third set followed a similar pattern as the Saints went up 16-12 and 17-14 before succumbing to another late Seawolf run. UAA claimed its first lead of the frame at 19-18 when SMU committed four straight errors, and a kill by Martina Riba made it 21-19. Ivakina smashed her final two kills for 23-21 and 24-21 advantages, and Emma Beck found the middle of the court two rallies later for the clincher.

Beck had nine kills on .286 hitting, while Riba had seven kills on .364 hitting.

Ivakina equaled Allen with her seventh double-double of the season, thanks to 28 assists from sophomore Hannah Trotter and 10 assists from freshman Johana Malikova.

Senior libero Madison Galloway had 12 digs as the Floridian moved into eighth place on the program's career list, now with 1,147.

UAA travels north for a first-place showdown Thursday (7 p.m.) against the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the Patty Center, kicking off a three-match road swing. Find live video ($) and stats links for all Seawolves contests at GoSeawolves.com.