UAA volleyball team seals GNAC title, enters West Regional as top seed
Nov. 14—The UAA volleyball team secured the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title on Saturday night with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-23) road sweep over Saint Martin's.
The conference title was the first since 2016 for the No. 5 ranked Seawolves (27-2, 17-1 GNAC), who earned it by topping four-time defending champion Western Washington by one match.
"That was not a pretty victory tonight, but it's certainly a great feeling to accomplish our goal of winning the GNAC outright, and we as coaches could not be prouder of this group," UAA head coach Chris Green said in a school release. "We will celebrate this tonight, before we begin our focus on the NCAA playoffs next week."
With the win, the Seawolves sealed the top seed in the West Region for the NCAA Division II volleyball tournament. UAA will play No. 8 seed Chaminade (24-7) in the opening round Thursday at 1:30 p.m. AKST.
No. 2 seed Western Washington will be the host of the tournament, which will be contested in Bellingham, Washington, from Nov. 17-19.
Despite being the top seed, the Seawolves are unable to host due to a scheduling conflict with the Great Alaska Shootout, which is Nov. 18-19 at Alaska Airlines Center. The school announced in late August that the tournament was returning and would be played the weekend before Thanksgiving.
['Always down for an adventure': French national Lisa Jaunet took a long road to the UAA volleyball team]
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Senior outside hitter Lisa Jaunet led UAA with nine kills in the conference-clinching match against Saint Martin's. This edition of the Seawolves tied the 2015 UAA team for the second-most victories in program history.
Senior setter Ellen Floyd added five kills and 23 assists for the Seawolves.
NCAA Division II West Region Volleyball
Nov. 17-19
in Bellingham, Washington
First round
No. 1 Alaska Anchorage (27-2) vs. No. 8 Chaminade (24-7)
No. 2 Western Washington (21-5) vs. No. 7 Central Washington (16-10)
No. 3 Cal State LA (21-6) vs. No. 6 Sonoma State (21-8)
No. 4 Cal Poly Pomona (23-5) vs. No. 5 Cal State San Bernardino (20-6)
