Box score, play-by-play
 
NAMPA, Idaho – For two games on Thursday night, most of the balls that Seattle Pacific sent toward floor landed on the floor.
 
After that, not so much.
 
Cailin Fellows and Shelby Swanson both recorded double-doubles, but the Falcons saw a two-games-to-one lead slip away and dropped a five-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match to Northwest Nazarene.
 
Scores in the Johnson Sports Center were 25-21, 19-25, 18-25, 25-12, 15-10.
 
It was the second time this season and the third straight time the Falcons (9-11, 6-5 GNAC) and Crusaders (11-12, 4-8 GNAC) have gone the limit, having split the last two in Seattle.
 
“We were smoking them – we hit .350 (in Game 2) and .333 (in Game 3), with a really low error percentage,” SPU head coach Chris Johnson said. “We were getting lots of kills and lots of great swings.”
 
“Then they started digging us, and we couldn't adjust.”
 
SPU visits Central Washington on Saturday night at 7 in Ellensburg. Those teams also went five games in Seattle last month, with the Wildcats pulling out the victory.
 
Senior outside hitter Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) finished with 18 kills and 14 digs. That was her third double-double this year and the fifth of her career. Her kill total pushed her past 800 for her career, now with 803.
 
Senior setter Swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) had 46 assists and 14 digs for her 10^th double-double of 2012 and the 27^th of her career.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS) put down 15 kills and hit .400.

Sophomore opposite / middle blocker Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) came up with a career-high 16 digs, beating her previous best of 12, set on Sept. 13 at Simon Fraser. For the second match in a row, Cavell had five service aces, tying her career high. She got two of those during a six-point serving streak that put the Falcons ahead for good in Game 2.
 
After Northwest Nazarene went on a 6-1 run to close out the first game, Seattle Pacific went on a 13-4 run in Game 2, going from 15-12 down to the 25-19 win.
 
Another big surge put the Falcons in charge of the third game, as they ran off seven consecutive points, turning a 15-14 deficit into a 21-15 lead.
 
But SPU never led in the fourth game, as the Crusaders scored seven in a row to go up 16-7. In the deciding game, NNU got the first two points and built a 6-3 lead. Seattle Pacific never came closer than one point, the last time at 7-6 before another three-point Crusader run gave them command at 10-6.
 
In those final two games, the Falcons had 59 attacks, with only 12 going for kills – and 30 being dug up by Northwest Nazarene.
 
“We had some bad passing, although for the most part, we were passing pretty well,” Johnson said. “We just didn't make good adjustments in the fourth game, and we couldn't get going in the fifth game.”
 
The Falcons hit just .165 for the match. Northwest Nazarene hit at a .208 clip. The Crusaders had four players in double-digit kills, with 12 apiece from Becky Flores and Kaitlyn Tuholski. 
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Harmon & Elizabeth Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
 
Northwest Nazarene 3, Seattle Pacific 2
 
Game scores – 25-21, 19-25, 18-25, 25-12, 15-10.
 
Service aces – SPU 6 (Madi Cavell 5), NNU 7 (Taylor Roberts 4).
Kills – SPU 52 (Cailin Fellows 18, Jessica Miller 15), NNU 57 (Katilyn Tuholski 12, Becky Flores 12).
Assists – SPU 49 (Shelby Swanson 46), NNU 55 (Michelle Terpstra 45).
Digs – SPU 68 (Cavell 16, Swanson 14, Fellows 14), NNU NNU 77 (Linnea Phillips 20).
Block assists / solo blocks – SPU 9 / 1 solo (Nikki Lowell 4 / 0 solo),  NNU 26 / 3 solo (Flores 7 / 0 solo, Heather Allen 6 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 52-25-164--.165 (Miller 15-3-30--.400), NNU 57-24-159--.208 (Tuholski 12-4-26--.308).
Attendance – 307.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 9-11, 6-5 GNAC. Northwest Nazarene 11-12, 4-8 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at Central Washington, Saturday, 7:00 p.m.