ANCHORAGE – Simon Fraser won for just the second time at the Alaska Airlines Center, taking down an Alaska Anchorage team in four sets that has been in the NCAA Div. II national rankings much of the season, and solidifying its claim as one of the top teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
SFU won convincingly by set scores: 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-11.
 
After dropping its first 11 matches in Anchorage since entering NCAA in 2010, SFU has now won its last two road matches against the Seawolves. More importantly, SFU has been unstoppable since losing at home Oct. 2 to UAA, running off seven straight victories, winning 21 of 25 sets, and moving into third in the conference with a 9-3 record,15-4 overall.
 
That momentum carried over into the Alaska Airlines Center where they faced the GNAC leaders, who are now 19-3 overall against SFU.
 
"At this point in the season every match is important," said head coach Gina Schmidt. "But beating a quality team like UAA on the road isn't easy and it took another great team effort to get the win tonight."
 
UAA (16-7 overall, 9-2 GNAC), which had peeled off eight straight GNAC wins to start the season, including 4-1 at SFU Oct. 2, fell out of first place in the GNAC for the first time this season, dropping one match behind 19th-ranked Western Washington (14-4, 10-1 GNAC), which pulled out a five-set win at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
Simon Fraser was led by 16 kills and six blocks from middle blocker Kalyn Hartmann and 24 digs from libero Bianca Te. Julia Tays, who leads the GNAC and is 12th in Division II with 11.14 assists per set, had 41 assists, surpassing 40+ sets in a match for the seventh time this season. Tays now has 3,582 career assists (2017: 874; 2018: 997; 2019: 1,014).
 
SFU out-hit UAA .206 to .067 and won the digs battle, 71-56. Camryn Vosloh, who is averaging 2.87 kills per set, and Brooke Dexter, added 10 kills apiece.
 
UAA led through most of the opening frame but SFU made late runs to tie it 22-22 and 23-23 before losing. But SFU carried its momentum into the second set and dominated UAA for the win, out-hitting them .263 to .154. UAA took a 17-14 lead in the third before SFU answered with a 7-0 run and pulled away to score 11 of the frame's final 13 points to go up 2-1. SFU outhit the hosts .292 to -.121 to close the match in four sets.
 
By The Numbers
SFU is enjoying its seventh consecutive winning season … Simon Fraser leads the GNAC and is 29th in Division II with 13.55 kills per set… SFU also leads the GNAC and ranks 25th in Division II with 12.64 assists per set.
 
Next Up:
SFU plays at Alaska (13-10 overall, 6-5 GNAC) on Saturday and then returns home for its final two games in the West Gym. Thursday, Nov. 4, SFU will host a Unity Game against Western Oregon where #UnitedAsOne t-shirts will be tossed into the crowd and rainbow donuts offered free to fans as the student-athletes position themselves as champions of change, promoting a message of hope for a more inclusive global community. Saturday, Nov. 6, SFU will recognize and honour its seniors—Julia Tays, Bianca Te and Farnaaz Johal—in their final home game against Saint Martin's (10-11, 3-8 GNAC). Both home games begin at 7PM.
 
-- with files from Nate Sagan, UAA Associate Media Relations Director.