ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Looking to break into a top-three spot in the GNAC standings, the University of Alaska Anchorage withstood a spirited effort by Western Oregon University for a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) win inside the Alaska Airlines Center on Thursday night.

With the win, the defending GNAC champion team from Alaska Anchorage improved to 17-9 on the season and 12-5 in conference play. Western Oregon fell to 6-18 overall and 2-15 in GNAC competition.

The Wolves will return to action on Saturday by facing the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Western Oregon will close out the season at home against Seattle Pacific on Nov. 16 and Saint Martin's on Nov. 18.The Seawolves cultivated a 5-1 lead in the first and quickly extended the advantage to a 10-point spread (14-4) on an ace by Chrisalyn Johnson.

Climbing back but still down 22-19, the Wolves strung together four straight point, capped by a Leila Holt block to briefly take the lead. UAA's Venessa Hayes, however, connected for the final two points to cease the comeback.

Holding a 5-4 lead in the second, UAA used a 9-2 run to pull for a 2-0 lead in the match while the third set was a back-and-forth tilt with seven points tying the score, the final occurrence at 22-22 via three straight points from WOU with Sierra Stultz and Alisha Bettinson providing late kills.

Once again the home side managed the final points to preserve the win, this time with Leah Swiss providing back-to-back kills before blocking a WOU attack for match point.

Bettinson led WOU with 15 kills. In addition to 19 digs and five aces, Stultz ended the night with nine kills. Holt added 27 assists while Libbie Hoene registered 22 digs for the Wolves. Johnson led UAA with 12 kills and was followed by nine each from Swiss and Hayes.