One of the top-ranked teams in the west region will be coming to Nicholson Pavilion today to face the Wildcats in a game where CWU will literally have to block their opponent to come out with an upset win.

Their opponent is University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, who currently has a record of 18-1 (8-0 GNAC) and is in the midst of an unprecedented 17-game winning streak, the best in school history. The Seawolves are ranked number eight nationally in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

“They’re the team to beat. We’re expecting to see a physical team, a team with a lot of confidence,” head coach Mario Andaya said. “They’re intense, they grind it out. They’re not unorthodox, they just have really good athletes and [head coach Chris Green] gets them well-organized — they don’t look like the smoothest team but they’re the most physical and efficient team.”

While CWU (10-6, 6-2 GNAC) is ranked number two in blocks per set in the nationally at 2.78, Anchorage is right behind, ranked third nationally at 2.51.

CWU has the third best blocker per set in the NCAA in 6-3 junior middle blocker Sabrina Wheelhouse.

Both teams’ outside hitters will have a major headache trying to blast the ball past their opponent.

“It’s going to make hitters think,” Andaya said. “We have to make sure offensively we have more options. We’re going to look to make sure our setters are spreading the ball a lot more and are not being so predictable.”

Luckily for both teams’ outside hitters, they get to practice against some of the blocking on a daily basis.

“Our outside hitters are doing very well against our block in practice,” senior outside hitter Lindsey Milner said. “In our game Saturday they did very well using the block and hitting around it – I think if we keep doing that we’re going to score a lot of points.”

One area the Seawolves dominate in is service aces where they have 131 total, 32 more than the next closest team. Leading the GNAC in this category is sophomore outside hitter Leah Swiss with 31 aces.

“If we don’t pass the ball very well off the serve then we’re out of system all the time and just sending over easy predictable balls,” Andaya said.

One of the biggest battles will be at the setting position between Seawolves senior Morgan Hooe and Wildcat freshman Nikki Cook and Gabrielle Aihara.

“They have one of the best setters in the league; Morgan Hooe is always just amazing,” senior middle blocker Erin Little said.

Hooe has contributed to 80 percent of the team’s assists this season with a total of 628, good for 9.66 per set. Last season Hooe earned All-American honors, AVCA third-team, First Team All-West Region and the NCAA West Regional Championship All-Tournament Team.

The Wildcats believe the key to defeating the Seawolves is to stay true to what makes them a winning team.

“I think if we focus on what we do well and stay the course, that’s our best shot of winning,” Andaya said. “But if we try and do something that we allow [Alaska] Anchorage to alter our style of play because of how physical they are, then we’re going to find ourselves lost a little bit.”

Their opponent for Saturday’s Homecoming game is Alaska Fairbanks. The Nanooks are tied for last place in the GNAC with a 2-13 record overall and 1-7 in the conference.

“They’re a good young team — a lot of the same returners from last year, but they’re missing their top point scorer from last year from graduation, so whoever is filling that role right now, we’re going to have to key on that,” Andaya said.