Box score, play-by-play

SEATTLE – Pick a game, and it's still the same: Good offense comes from good defense – just as it did for Seattle Pacific on the volleyball court Saturday afternoon.

Nikki Lowell hammered 15 kills and hit a season-high .565, Shelby Swanson recorded yet another double-double, and SPU effectively shut down Alaska Fairbanks' attack in the final two games to rack up a Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Scores were 27-25, 23-25, 25-12, 25-10.
 
Junior middle blocker Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) also had seven block assists for Seattle Pacific (8-10, 5-4 GNAC). Senior setter swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) racked up 48 assists and 15 digs.
 
Senior outside hitter Cailin Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) put down 14 kills, and sophomore middle blocker/opposite Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) added 12 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS) had eight block assists, doubling her previous career high, to go along with nine kills and an error-free.310 hitting percentage.
 
Junior middle blocker Nikki Cheek (Puyallup, Wash. / Emerald Ridge HS) logged career highs of five kills and four block assists, and hit .385 in an error-free performance. 
 




But it was what the Falcons did collectively on defense that helped them win going away. After allowing Fairbanks (3-12, 1-8 GNAC) to hit .259 with 31 kills in splitting the first two games, SPU yielded just 13 kills and limited the Nanooks to minus-.031 hitting the rest of the way (.000 in Game 3, and minus-.057 in Game 4).
 
In those same two games, the Falcons hit a combined .393 -- .370 and .414, respectively.
 
“It was just playing better defense, period – it wasn't even adjustments, it was just playing better,” said Seattle Pacific coach Chris Johnson, whose team starts the second half of GNAC play next Saturday night at 7 in Brougham against Montana State Billings. “We knew we needed to shut down (Sam Harthun) for Fairbanks. She was hitting over .300 (through two games), and we said, 'We have to block her and shut her down and take her away from them.”
 
“We just weren't playing defense at the level we're accustomed to. But we came out with a fire in our belly the last couple games and really shut down their offense.”
 
Harthun wound up with a match-high 17 kills, but had just four in the final two games and wound up at .123 hitting. Fairbanks finished the match at .130. SPU finished at a season-high .289 with 58 kills, and just 15 errors. The latter was its third-lowest total of the season. 
 




SPU was down 19-10 in the first game, then ran off eight of the next nine points to get within 20-18. Another four-point burst took the Falcons from 22-19 down to 23-22 up. Fairbanks fought off three game points, but a Fellows kill finally clinched the game.
 
“It seems that our mentality completely switched,” said Cheek, who easily wiped out her previous single-match career highs of two kills and two block assists. “We went into a timeout, and Chris goes, 'We're winning this game right now – and we were down by nine points.' And we came back and won that game, just like Chris said.”
 
The Nanooks turned the tables in the second game, rallying from 18-13 down to win it and pull even going into the intermission.
                                                                  
The Falcons quickly took charge of Game 3, building an 11-4 lead. Then, up by just three at 9-6 in Game 4, SPU put together an 8-1 surge, stretching it to double-digits at 17-7 and cruising from there.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Fairbanks 1
 
Game scores – 27-25, 23-25, 25-12, 25-10.
 
Service aces – UAF 3 (3 players with 1), SPU 7 (Shelby Swanson 2, Brianna Leenders 2).
Kills – UAF 44 (Sam Harthun 17), SPU 58 (Nikki Lowell 15, Cailin Fellows 14, Madi Cavell 12).
Assists – UAF 40 (Katlyn Mataya 37), SPU 52 (Swanson 48).
Digs – UAF 65 (Allison Oddy 17), SPU 71 (Brianna Leenders 18, Breanne Wiekamp 17, Swanson 15).
Block assists / solo blocks – UAF 2 / 1 solo (Megan Morrison 1 / 1 solo), SPU 22 / 0 solo (Jessica Miller 8 / 0, Lowell 7 / 0).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – UAF 44-25-146--.130 (Morgan Tebbs 3-1-5--.400), SPU 58-15-148--.289 (Lowell 15-2-23--.565).
Attendance – 163.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 8-10, 5-4 GNAC. Alaska Fairbanks 3-12, 1-8 GNAC.
 
Next match – Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Oct. 20, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.