Zoë Strickland | Managing Editor
Western’s volleyball team experienced a double loss at home against the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks and the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.
The Nanooks travelled to Western’s campus for a game on Oct. 12. Though it looked promising after the first set, the Wolves played — and lost — a tight game. The final score was 3-1 in favor of Alaska Fairbanks.
Junior Mariella Vandenkooy scored 22 kills and three blocks for the Wolves, topping the Western leaderboard.
The first set leaned in heavy favor of the Wolves. Though Nanook sophomore Kim Wong got her team on the board with the first kill of the game, the Wolves followed with three kills and two attack errors — gaining five consecutive points. A kill by Nanook Maddie Davis interrupted the streak of points, which resumed with five more after Davis’s kill. The rest of the first set was a back and forth between the two teams, finally ending with a score of 25-14.
The middle two sets were both rounded out at 28-26, with the Nanooks taking the lead on both. While the Wolves completed their first set win with a series of consecutive kills, the Nanooks pieced their wins together.
The last set began with four consecutive points for the Nanooks. Their scoring took a brief break, allowing for Western to put themselves on the board with two points, and then resumed with a consecutive streak of five more. The rest of the set mimicked the first, resulting in a final score of 19-25, cementing the Wolves’s loss.
Western played Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 14. The team saw a similar fate as the match they played against Alaska Fairbanks three days prior — a 1-3 loss.
Vandenkooy led the board once again with a combined 18 kills throughout the course of the game.
The first set started out with four consecutive points on the part of the Wolves. What started out strong in the beginning of the set remained so, eventually resulting in a 20-8 advantage for the Wolves. After a timeout for the Seawolves, the Alaska team came back to score four consecutive points. The final score before the second set read 25-19.
The Seawolves kicked it up for the second set, putting themselves on the board with six points. As the set progressed, the Wolves consistently positioned themselves just behind Anchorage. The set ended at 25-23 in favor of the Seawolves.
Alaska Anchorage won the remaining two sets, boasting final scores of 25-17 and 25-21, respectively.
The Wolves go on the road next week, travelling to play Central Washington on Oct. 19 and Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 21.
Contact the author at journalmanaging@wou.edu
