Box Score FAIRBANKS, ALASKA – In her first collegiate match for her home area team, Ashley Owen showed her might by powering Humboldt State volleyball to a season-opening victory late on Friday night.
 
The 6-3 junior from Gasquet, Calif. downed a match-high 16 kills to lead the Lumberjacks over the host Nanooks of the University of Alaska, 3-1, in the first day of the Nanook Classic.
 
"Ashley had an amazing game. Just an incredible game for an outside hitter," said HSU head coach Kelly Wood. "She was consistent and Erin (Mitchell) did a great job setting her the ball. Ashley is not an easy person to defend as she had a great match."
 
Owen's great match came at the rate of hitting .500 as her 16 kills came on 30 attacks with only one error on the night.
 
The outside hitter and her Lumberjack teammates had to battle back after dropping a tough first set, 28-30.
 
"The girls were so nervous in the first set and it showed," explained the Jacks leader. "We bounced back in the second and third sets as we progressed better as the match went on."
 
In the first set, HSU had set-point two times at 25-24 and 26-25 but could not finish out the game.
 
The young squad did not have that problem the rest of the night.
 
Tied at two early in game two, the Jacks scored the next two points off a kill from Alex Hasenstab (Phoenix, Ariz.) and an ace by Colleen Noonan (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and would never trail in the set.
 
The slim visiting lead grew to a seven-point difference, 17-10, when Symone Hayden (Fresno, Calif.) pounded a kill.
 
Alaska (5-0) would get back to within a point two times, 18-17 and 19-18, but HSU (1-0) scored five of the next seven points (24-20), before taking a 25-22 win.
 
After scoring the opening four points, the Jacks fell behind the Nanooks by as many as five points, 6-11, in the first part of the third set.
 
The match would be deadlocked, 18-18, until Kelsi Renshaw (Nanakuli, Hawaii) laced an ace followed by kills from Kaitlyn Dunaway (Rohnert Park, Calif.) and Noonan to edge HSU in front until Owen rocked a back row kill to complete the second 25-22 victory.
 
The Jacks continued their roll in the fourth set.
 
Running out to an 8-1 lead, HSU saw Alaska battle back to make it an 11-8 score.
 
The Nanooks would get no closer as Courtney Debrunner (Petaluma, Calif.) fired off three aces and Owen blasted a pair of kills as part of a 10-0 run to make it 18-8.
 
HSU outscored Alaska, 7-3, to complete the four-set win punctuated by a Dunaway kill for a 25-11 game four tally.
 
"We finally settled down a little bit and broke them (Alaska) down (late in the match). We started passing really consistently in the fourth set and kept the pressure on them," noted Wood. "We are pleased with the win but made a lot of mistakes offensively."
 
Along with Owen's outstanding performance, Dunaway produced 14 kills of her own to go with 10 digs and a block.
 
In her collegiate match, redshirt freshman Hayden added 10 kills, nine digs, two aces and a pair of blocks in an all-around effort. 
 
Mitchell handed out 41 set assists, dug nine balls and served three aces.
 
Freshmen Debrunner and Hasenstab combined for seven kills, four digs, four blocks and three aces.
Libero Renshaw contributed eight digs, five assists and two aces.
 
Noonan finished with eight digs, two aces, an assist and a kill. Rounding out the line, Danielle Carlson (Gaviota, Calif.) had two kills in one set of action.
 
The Jacks will not have too long to enjoy their first win.
 
HSU will face 12^th-ranked Fresno Pacific in a noon bout on Saturday before wrapping up the two-day tournament in a 6 p.m. match versus Colorado Christian.
 
"Fresno Pacific is 12^th in the nation but I am excited to play a tough and polished team like them," concluded Wood.