Nanooks fall in first playoff test
By Laura Stickells | September 27, 2019
Cate Whiting and Kim Wong go up for a block Thursday, against Montana State University Billings. Photo by Laura Stickells.
Four-hundred-and-eighty elementary school students filled the bleachers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Airlines Court on Thursday to watch the Nanooks volleyball team defeat Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent Montana State University Billings 25-12, 18-25, 22-25, 25-16, 15-6 and advance to 4-0 in conference play for the first time in team history.
The UAF Athletics Department reached out to the North Star Borough School District at the beginning of the season to coordinate a day when elementary schools students could be bussed to the Patty Center to watch a Nanooks volleyball match free of charge during school hours.
“We just wanted to do something to collaborate more with the elementary schools and we want to showcase that college is for everyone,” executive senior associate director for the Alaska Nanooks Terlynn Olds said.
The idea was originally proposed by volleyball head coach Brian Scott in March.
Students from Arctic Light, Hunter, Ladd, Pearl Creek, Salcha and University Park arrived at the Patty Center at 10:30 a.m. Thursday where they were greeted by Nanook student-athletes.
The elementary students had an hour before the game started to ask the Nanook students questions, take photos with the athletes and the mascot and purchase concessions.
“Some of these kids, it was the first time they ever stepped on a college campus or seen an athletic event and we wanted to give them something to be excited about,” Olds added.
The young students were fully invested in the back-and-forth five set game, cheering loudly starting in the warm ups all the way to the last point.
“What an awesome environment,” Scott said after the game. “I’m so grateful to the school district for helping us make that an event for all those elementary school kids ... That is the most raucous crowd we’ve had.”
For middle blocker Kim Wong, it doesn’t feel that long ago that she was the one in the bleachers watching college athletes play.
“It feels so weird to look at that crowd and see all of these kids,” the senior said.
“I still remember being a little kid and being like ‘I want to be like this player.’ I would go to these college matches and see Stanford and they stand at like 6-foot-5-inches and I’d be like I’m never going to get there but I’ll do my best.”
The Nanooks and Yellowjackets both went into Thursday’s match as two of the three remaining undefeated GNAC and put on a show for students.
Alaska dominated the first set, which junior Emily Moorhead started off with an ace. The Nanooks went on a seven point run to set the tone for the set which they took 25-12.
Roles were reversed in the second set, with the Yellowjackets racking up points from four Alaska service errors and five attack errors to take the set 18-25. Errors continued to plague the ’Nooks through set three, as they tallied three more service errors and seven attack errors.
“We’re aggressive with our serve and so we get a bunch of aces, but we missed too many of them and we can’t allow that,” Scott said after the game.
“It’s tough for us to get extra points when we just put a ball in the net or out of bounds. We don’t allow ourselves to be good at defense, which I think we are pretty good at.”
“There were a lot of balls that were just constantly being put to the setter and Cate (Whiting) could just go anywhere with it… I just loved how our back row stepped it up and gave us those passes that we needed,” Wong said.
Whiting recorded a season-high 45 assists and 12 digs.
For the next two sets, Scott reminded the team to take the sets one ball at a time. Errors dropped dramatically and Alaska’s .375 and .250 respective hitting percentages in the fourth and fifth sets dominated Montana’s .154 and -.133.
Helping Wong at the net on Thursday was junior transfer AveRee Reynolds. The outside hitter was second on the team with 12 kills, followed by Markie Miller with nine.
Reynolds attributed some of the teams early conference play success to the tough non-conference schedule the team played earlier in the season.
“I think it showed us what we have to work on … and see what someone else’s offense could do to our defense and what our offense could do to their defense so it’s just a good check.”
Scott also acknowledged that the difficult non-conference schedule was intentional, as he knew this years team could handle the extra competition.
“We really wanted to go play the northern states, we wanted to go play the Colorado School of Mines and we wanted to play the Cal State L.A.s because they are the best in the country and we want to show that we can be there too.”
All of Alaska’s five losses belong to teams that qualified for 2018 NCAA regional tournaments.
The Nanooks continue with conference play when they host Northwest Nazarene, with first serve set for 7 p.m. on Oct. 3.
The next time the Nanooks will host elementary school students is up in the air, but Olds said nearly every team came to her asking if they could be the next one to host students and it wouldn’t be out of the question for it to happen again this season.
“Maybe hockey or basketball,” she said. “It was just a great day to be a part of Nanook Nation.”