Box score, play-by-play

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – If Paige Hoffman and her Seattle Pacific teammates had their way, they'd have been heading straight back to practice on Saturday night, and then take the volleyball court against Western Washington again on Sunday.

Neither one of those was going to happen. But the point was that Hoffman and the rest of the Falcons were already eager to get back to work and get back on the winning track.

Lindsey Wodrich, Sarah Risser and Shelby Swanson all had double-doubles, and Hoffman came up with a career-high 18 digs for Seattle Pacific on Saturday, but the night belonged to Western Washington on the volleyball court, as the 17th-ranked Vikings swept the 12th-ranked Falcons in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference showdown.

Scores in Carver Gym were 25-22, 25-23, 25-18.

It was the first loss of the season for SPU (16-1, 8-1 GNAC), as Western Washington (11-2, 8-1 GNAC) climbed into a first-place tie in the conference standings.

Junior outside hitter Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) had 15 kills and 12 digs. Senior outside hitter Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) put down 13 kills and had 12 digs. Sophomore setter Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) had 39 assists and 11 digs. 

The 18 digs for junior outside hitter Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) were three more than her previous career high.

“I'd love to have a two-hour practice right now,” Hoffman said. “We know we can do better, and there's a lot to learn from this. The pressure is on that we have to work hard every single match to win the GNAC, and to be ready when they come to our gym. I'd like to move our match against them to tomorrow.”

That rematch actually isn't scheduled until Nov. 4 in Brougham Pavilion. Plenty of volleyball remains to be played before then, starting with Thursday night's match at Northwest Nazarene (6 p.m. PDT) to open the second half of the conference schedule.

“They'll be ready to play on Thursday and be ready to get back in the win column,” Falcons coach Chris Johnson said. “The big picture is we're still tied for first place. We get back to our winning ways, and we're playoff bound.”

Saturday's outcome ended SPU's school record-setting start of 16 straight victories. The previous best had been a 7-0 start in 2003. The Falcons also had swept their past seven opponents and 11 of their first 16.

“For the most part, this one was on us,” Johnson said. “We had a good number of kills (44), but we had too many errors at critical times.”

After a back-and-forth first game that had 12 ties and three lead changes, Western raced to a 10-3 advantage in Game 2. The Falcons then put together a 12-4 run to take a 15-14 edge. The lead changed hands three more times, with SPU up 23-22 before the Vikings tallied the final three points.

Western Washington then built a 10-4 advantage in the third game. It was still a six-point spread at 15-9 when Seattle Pacific scored five of the next six points to get within 16-14, forcing the Vikings to take a timeout. Western then got the next two points and never let the lead slip to less than three the rest of the way.

“We got beat by a good team,” Johnson said. “We definitely had confidence in ourselves, but I think we let their defense frustrate us. … We didn't quite have the poise that we've shown in other matches.”

Hoffman agreed.

“We had to stay more focused and wait for it. We got a little bit impatient and went beyond our means to try to get a kill.”

SPU hit just .155 for the match (44 kills, 22 errors on 142 attacks), while the Vikings finished at .231 (45 kills, 14 errors on 134 swings).

In addition to Hoffman's career high for digs, two other Falcons passed statistical milestones on Saturday. Swanson's 39 assists pushed her past the 1,000 mark for her career (1,029). Wodrich hit the 500 mark for kills and digs. She now has 509 of the former and an even 500 of the latter. 


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Carver Gym/Bellingham, Wash.

(No. 17) Western Washington 3, (No. 12) Seattle Pacific 0

Game scores – 25-22, 25-23, 25-18.

Service aces – SPU: Holly Mueller 1. WWU: Jordyn Bailey 1, Kari Rice 1.
Kills – SPU: Lindsey Wodrich 15, Sarah Risser 13. WWU: Marlayna Geary 14, Megan Amundson 12.
Assists – SPU: Shelby Swanson 39. WWU: Rice 38.
Blocks – SPU: Nikki Lowell 5, Wodrich 3, Angie Pricco 3. WWU: Emily Jepsen .
Digs – SPU: Paige Hoffman 18, Risser 12, Anna Herold 12, Swanson 11. WWU: Allison Gotz 27.
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU: PRicco 4-1-9--.333, Lowell 8-1-22--.318, SPU 44-22-142--.155. WWU: Rice 3-0-7--.429, Geary 14-2-31--.387, Jepsen 8-4-19--.211.
Attendance – 747.

Records – Seattle Pacific 16-1, 8-1 GNAC. Western Washington 11-2, 8-1 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, Thursday, Oct. 14, 6 p.m. PDT.