The Nanook volleyball team wanted to show up its Anchorage rivals, but found itself losing to UAA 3-1 on Wednesday.

Despite strong performances by freshman middle Megan Thigpen and freshman right setter Jessica Hill, the Seawolves defeated UAF, 30-25, 21-30, 31-29, 30-25 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex at UAA.

"We certainly had our chances," said coach Phil Shoemaker. "I think that Anchorage played well. I think there block was, I don't know if it was intimidating, but we certainly didn't handle it well."

Shoemaker also said the unfriendly, loud crowd "was probably a factor." They were "completely" obnoxious, he said.

"There were bright spots and we played well, but you never want to lose, especially to UAA," Shoemaker said.

UAF trailed initially in game one until an attack error by Seawolf senior middle blocker Chelsey Jones put the Nanooks in the lead, 6-7.

But a service error by junior outside hitter Jessica King allowed UAA to tie for 25-25, and a service ace by Jones and Nanook attack errors helped nab UAA the 30-25 win.

Game two saw the Nanooks leading the whole game, with kills sprinkled throughout by Thigpen and outside middle hitter Korlyn Bolster and a service ace by Jenna Jones. But UAA bounced back from the 21-30 defeat, stealing the ‘Nooks lead at 6-6 and continuing on to beat them 31-29.

Game four saw the Nanooks trailing the whole game until the eventual 30-25 finish.

"We need better play-out by our middles," Shoemaker said. "It's not that they've played poorly, but we just need to ask more of them."

Specifically, the middles need to work on blocking, he said.

"Yeah, we've got to do a better job against their blocks. We've got to get more hungry."

It's blocking specifically that will be a focus in this week's practices in preparation for matches against Western Washington University on Thursday and Seattle University on Saturday, he said.

"Other than that, it's just continuing to mature as a team," Shoemaker said. "We're still fighting a lot of the challenges when you have three freshmen and basically a really young team on the court."

The Nanooks' Tigpen led the team offensively, with 14 kills and a .270 attack percentage.

She also made four service aces. Sophomore libero Miranda Trudeau attempted defense with 20 digs.

For the Seawolves, sophomore outside hitter Brenda Cooper and Chelsey Jones had seven blocks apiece, and junior Paepaetele Poasa had a career-best 18 digs.

The Nanooks do have one more chance against UAA, with a home match against Anchorage on Nov. 4. But that doesn't mean Wednesday's UAA loss doesn't sting, Shoemaker said.

"If you'd asked me before the game, I certainly would have said we're a better team."