Seawolves hold off #14 Vikings for critical GNAC victory

Anchorage (Nov. 8) - Junior outside hitter Lee Ivakina ripped 25 kills - including match point in an epic fourth set - to help the UAA volleyball team to a 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 34-32 victory over No. 14 Western Washington on Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (19-5, 10-4 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 15 kills and 18 digs from senior outside hitter Tia Allen and a career-high 10 blocks from sophomore middle blocker Martina Riba as they outhit the visitors .253 to .158 and outblocked them 12-6.

The Vikings (18-4, 12-3) were led by 20 kills and 11 digs from Delaney Speer and 21 digs from Devyn Oestreich as they fell half a match behind Central Washington for the league lead. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the top five teams in the GNAC now stand within two matches of each other.

"Even when Western made its comeback to send the fourth to extra points, our team continued to show its grit and pulled out an amazing victory," said UAA head coach Stacie Meisner, whose team improved to 4-3 against nationally ranked opponents. "I couldn't ask for more out of this team, especially getting big contributions off the bench for the second huge win in a row, this time from Trinity Byrne (career-high 7 kills) and Johana Malikova (21 assists, 4 digs, no errors)."

In a rivalry that features 14 of the 23 all-time GNAC regular-season champions (WWU 10/UAA 4), Saturday's match went down as another classic.

The first two sets were full of big momentum swings in each direction. UAA rallied from a 22-19 hole to win the opener, getting two straight aces from Elana Hansen to grab the lead and earning set point on a clever deep attack by Bella Burney.

The Vikings were able to defend their lead in the second despite a late Seawolf comeback, getting a kill from Abby May on set point to tie the match.

Ivakina notched seven kills on .500 hitting to help UAA defend a healthy lead throughout the third set, and the hosts looked poised to win when Allen smashed a kill to make it 22-16 in the fourth. Allen found another opening for a 24-21 lead, but the Vikings fought off three straight match points and grabbed the lead at 25-24 on a kill by Speer.

The rivals continued to trade punches for the next 15 rallies, with Speer finding the court to repel a fifth match point and tie it 32-32. Burney - who made the match-clinching block in Thursday's 15-13 fifth-set win over No. 8 Simon Fraser - put UAA ahead with a kill on the next point, and libero Eleasha Sapon made a clutch dig on the final rally to set up Ivakina for the clinching kill, lofting a soft attack over the WWU block.

The 66 points tied the longest set played by the Seawolves since 25-point rally scoring came into effect in 2008.

Playing as UAA's primary libero for the first time, Sapon finished with career highs of 14 digs and three assists.

Ivakina's 25 kills were the most by a Seawolf since 2022 as the Bulgarian hit .339, along with 10 digs and three block assists.

Freshman rightside hitter Emma Beck had 12 kills on .286 hitting, while starting setter Hannah Trotter had 28 assists and 17 digs.

The Seawolves take their final regular-season road trip next week, facing Northwest Nazarene on Thursday (5 p.m. AST) and league-leading Central Washington on Saturday (6 p.m. AST). Find live links at GoSeawolves.com.