Box score, play-by-play
 
BURNABY, B.C. – Madi Cavell tied her career high with 13 kills, and smashed her previous career high with 12 digs for her first collegiate double-double, and Cailin Fellows hammered 16 kills on Thursday as Seattle Pacific beat Simon Fraser in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball opener for both schools, 3-1.
 
Scores in the West Gym were 25-14, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19.
 
Senior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) had 50 assists against the Clan (2-4, 0-1 GNAC). That pushed her past 3,000 for her career (3,021) and moved her up into the No. 8 spot on the GNAC's all-time assist list. Swanson passed Amy Herron of Western Oregon, who had 3,017 from 2000-03.
 
The 13 kills for sophomore middle blocker/opposite Cavel (Keizer, Ore.) matched her output against Fresno Pacific on Sept. 1 at a preseason tournament in Honolulu. The 12 digs was triple her previous best of four, which she set just last Saturday against Cal State Stanislaus at the Seawolf Spike tournament in California.
 
Cavell posted a season-high hitting percentage for the third consecutive match, finishing the night at .286 (13 kills, 3 errors on 35 attacks). She hit .238 and .263  in SPU's most recent matches.
 
Junior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) matched her season high with seven total blocks, getting six block assists and one solo. Sophomore libero Brianne Leenders (Portland, Ore.) led Seattle Pacific with 25 digs and served two of the Falcons' four aces.
 
SPU never trailed and was never tied in the opening game after scoring the first two points. Simon Fraser built a 16-9 lead in Game 2, but saw the Falcons get within one on three different occasions, the last time at 24-23, before a Jessica Young kill gave the Clan the split heading into the intermission.
 
Seattle Pacific snapped a 20-20 tie in the third game with three straight points, the last of which was a kill by senior outside hitter Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS), then eventually closed it out on another Fellows kill. The Falcons then took charge of the final game with a 5-0 run that turned a 17-17 tie into a 22-17 lead.

"The first game, we played outstanding, then we gave them about half of their points in the second game," Seattle Pacific coach Chris Johnson said. "We played better in the third game, then in the fourth game, we looked really good again. We made some adjustments here and there, and the team did a good job of putitng those into action.
 
SPU hit .257 for the match, including .414 in the first game and .361 in the fourth. That was the second match in a row and third in the last five that the Falcons have hit better than .200. They limited Simon Fraser to .080 hitting for the match, keeping the Clan below .100 in three of the four games.
 
Seattle Pacific visits rival and 14^th-ranked Western Washington on Saturday night in Bellingham.

"We saw them a little bit in the last tournament (at last week's Seawolf Spike), and they're good," Johnson said. "They have a big, powerful outside hitter (Marlayna Geary), and they have really active middles. They're just a good, solid consistent, team, and they don't make a lot of errors. I expect a lot of long rallies, and the team that can do the best job of staying patient and winning those rallies can win the match."

 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Simon Fraser 1
 
Game scores – 25-14, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19.
 
Service aces – SPU 4 (Brianna Leenders 2), SFU 6 (Jessica Young 2). Kills – SPU 56 (Cailin Fellows 16, Madi Cavell 13, Jessica Miller 11), SFU 39 (Young 12). Assists – SPU 52 (Shelby Swanson 50), SFU 38 (Victoria Senges 29). Digs – SPU 72 (Leenders 25), SFU 62 (Danielle Curtis 17). Block assists / solo blocks – SPU 16 / 1 solo (Nikki Lowell 6 / 1 solo), SFU 8 / 2 solo (Madeline Hait 2 / 1 solo, Amanda Renkema 2 / 1 solo). Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 56-18-148--.257 (Nikki Cheek 2-0-4--.500, Ellit Britt 5-0-16--.312), SFU 39-27-50--.080 (Hait 8-2-21--.286. Attendance – 95.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 4-6, 1-0 GNAC. Simon Fraser 2-4, 0-1 GNAC.
 
Next match – Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, Saturday, 7:00 p.m.