Seawolf comeback stuns #7 Red Leafs, 3-2, in Canada

Burnaby, British Columbia (Oct. 11) - Lee Ivakina ripped 19 kills and fellow outside hitter Tia Allen had three of her 16 kills in the fifth set Saturday to help the University of Alaska Anchorage volleyball team to a 22-25, 25-22, 17-25, 28-26, 15-12 victory over No. 7 Simon Fraser at the SFU West Gymnasium.

The Seawolves (14-3, 5-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got career highs of 27 digs from senior libero Madison Galloway and eight blocks from junior middle Bella Burney as they rallied from a 24-20 deficit in the fourth set.

The Red Leafs (12-2, 6-2) got 25 kills and 16 digs from Megan Hawkins and 20 kills from Natalie Lemoine-Sells, but the hosts were outblocked 16-9 overall and outhit .304 to .048 in the final set.

"We showed incredible fight and grit to get this win," said UAA head coach Stacie Meisner, whose team improved to 2-0 against top-10 opponents this season. "It would have been easy to fold after we fell behind late in the fourth, but that isn't the personality of this team. It was another great team win, too, getting clutch contributions from everyone on the court."

Looking to rebound from its first back-to-back losses of the season (both against top-25 foes), Seawolves began to hit their stride midway through the second set against the Red Leafs. Burney smashed a kill to put the visitors ahead 17-14, another to make it 21-18, and found the middle of the court on set point to draw the match even.

Simon Fraser used an 11-0 run to claim the third set and rallied from a 17-12 deficit to go ahead in the fourth. A Lemoine-Sells kill and an ace by Hawkins gave the hosts four chances at match point, but the Seawolves were up to the task.

After a Lemoine-Sells attack error, the UAA tandem of Burney and Emma Beck earned consecutive blocks of Davida Hill, and another Lemoine-Sells attack error made it 24-24. The Seawolves repelled a fifth match point with a kill by Ivakina, and sent it the distance with an Ivakina kill and a block by Allen.

UAA turned an 8-5 deficit into an 11-8 lead in the fifth when freshman Trinity Byrne delivered two kills off the bench. Simon Fraser tied it 11-11, but the Seawolves finished with a 4-1 surge, getting a kill from Allen to make it 14-11, and seeing Hill hit into the net on match point.

Ivakina and Allen tallied 16 digs apiece as each earned her ninth double-double of the season, while freshman setter Johana Malikova had 42 assists, 15 digs and four block assists.

Galloway surpassed her career high by one dig, added five assists and went 45-for-45 in serve-receive as the Seawolves' lone fourth-year senior surpassed 1,200 career digs.

Burney finished with nine kills, while Beck and sophomore Martina Riba had identical lines of seven kills and seven blocks.

The Seawolves finish the first round of GNAC play when they return home for matches next week against defending champion Central Washington on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, both at 7 p.m. Thursday's match is 'Pink Night,' presented by Aurora Integrated Oncology Foundation, while Saturday is the annual 'Pack The House' event, featuring $5 tickets, giveaways and major prizes, including an Alaska Airlines round-trip ticket.