Four different Seattle University players earned at least nine kills as the Redhawks held off the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, 3-1 (30-19, 29-31, 30-24, 32-30), in GNAC volleyball action Saturday night at the Connolly Center.
Nikole Thompson () led the way with 14 kills, three service aces, and 12 defensive digs. In the process, she moved into second place on ’s career kills list (1,145), into fourth place on the school’s list for most career service aces (106), and became the seventh player to earn at least 800 career digs (810).
Libby Graff (, ) earned 13 kills, three aces, six digs and three total blocks, while Kelly Benson () contributed 11 kills, two service aces, and three total blocks. Jessica Gunderson (, ) came off the bench and notched nine kills and two blocks, and Janet Beckerman () finished with five kills and six total blocks.
Jamie Mellies () distributed the ball well, finishing with 45 assists along with six digs and three blocks. Defensively, Emily Deleissegues (Aromas, ) led the way with 15 digs, with Shelly Anderson (, ) earning nine digs and Heather Gerke (, ) and Donnelle Nicaise () each picking up seven digs.
Alaska Anchorage (5-14, 1-12 GNAC) was led by Joanna Johnson, who finished with 21 kills and 22 digs. Rachel Kidwell contributed 15 kills, two aces, nine digs, and four blocks, while Kim Stolk earned ten kills and four total blocks. Jessica Morehouse notched seven kills and seven total blocks, setter Milica Micovic picked up 47 assists and three total blocks, and libero Cristal Negron finished with 27 digs and two aces.
Although Alaska Anchorage had nearly the same amount of kills (55-54) and the same amount of aces (eight) as and earned more team blocks than the Redhawks (11-9), it committed 13 service errors and eight ball-handling mistakes, six more than in each category. In the three games won, its sideout percentage was above 60 percent, while it was only at 46 percent during the game two loss.
Seattle University (10-11, 7-6 GNAC) heads on the road for three straight matches, starting with next Thursday’s contest against Western Washington in Bellingham beginning at 7 p.m. The next home match for the Redhawks is Thursday, Nov. 8, against Northwest Nazarene, also beginning at 7 p.m. at the .