Aug. 24, 2007

Box Score

HILO, Hawaii - The Alaska Nanooks volleyball team got its first official win of the 2007 season, defeating the Hawaii Pacific Sea Warriors 3-1 on the road in their opening match at the Hawaiian Style Classic tournament in Hilo Thursday night.

The Nanooks jumped out to a two game lead, taking the first set 34-32 and following it up with a 30-22 victory. The Sea Warriors came back in the third game, taking the set 30-26, before Alaska closed out the match 30-26 in the fourth game.

"The first game was a character builder," said head coach Phil Shoemaker. "Both teams were fairly young and made their share of errors, but we played aggresive and we played well and it was nice to get that first win."

Alaska got contributions across the board offensively as four players had double-figure kills. Sophomore outside hitter Megan Thigpen (Spokane, WA) paced the charge with 19 kills and was also in double figures defensively with 10 digs. Sophomore right side hitter Jessica Hill (Colorado Springs, CO) added 15 kills, six digs and three blocks while senior outside hitter got 11 kills and digs apiece.

Shoemaker noted that freshman middle hitter Erica Gage (Palo Alto, CA) was another bright spot for the Nanooks in her first collegiate match, tallying 12 kills and a team-high eight blocks.

Alaska sophomore setter Alexa Sherman (Calabasas, CA) quarterbacked the offensive effort with 51 assists. She also led the match with a .889 hitting percentage off eight kills and zero errors in nine attempts.

"We have to compliment everyone who played," Shoemaker said. "It was a match that I thought we should win and it's nice to be right."

HPU was led by Cari Kahn and Antje Buskies who had 13 and 11 kills respectively.

The Nanooks return to action Friday morning, facing Texas Women's University in their second match of the Classic at 11 a.m. AST. TWU also met success Thursday, defeating Briar Cliff in its first game of the tournament.