Box Score
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BELLINGHAM, Wash. – It wasn't just any victory. It was the 500th in school history.

It wasn't in just any gymnasium. It was in notoriously tough Carver Gymnasium.

And it wasn't against just any team.

It was against nationally ranked Western Washington.

Madi Cavell slammed a career-high 22 kills – including the match-winner – freshman Lexi Biondi put down a career-high 13 kills, and senior Nikki Lowell also had 13 kills as the Seattle Pacific Falcons knocked the No. 8-ranked Vikings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match on Thursday night.

Scores were 27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23.

Coach Chris Johnson knew heading into this week that the next win for the Falcons would be No. 500. He made mention of that fact during his pre-match locker room talk.

"I used one of my favorite quotes: Great moments are born from great opportunity," Johnson said. "It was a chance to give Western their second straight loss at home, and that our next win was our 500th.

"It was going to happen at some point, and that's going to be written down somewhere," he said of the milestone, "and it would be great to get it at Western."

Seattle Pacific (10-8, 6-4 GNAC) returns to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Simon Fraser.

Western Washington (14-3, 7-2 GNAC) lost its second in a row at home for the first time since 1999, and just its 14th match (of 131 played in 14 years) on its Sportcourt surface. SPU has three of those victories.

Junior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) beat her previous career high of 18 kills, set in a five-game victory against nationally ranked Cal State San Bernardino on Sept. 7. She also had 15 digs on Thursday for her second straight double-double, her seventh of the season and the 10th of her career.

Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.), in just her fifth career start, also picked up 11 digs for her first collegiate double-double. Her previous career high for kills was 12.

Junior setter Kendall Langdon had 52 assists, shattering her old career-high of 27. She also made it a double-double – her fifthof the season and career – with 13 digs. Junior libero Brianne Leenders had 25 digs, and sophomore libero Breanne Wiekamp came up with 20.





The Falcons had not won in Carver since Oct. 31, 2009. For SPU senior Lowell, it was her first time on the winning side in Bellingham.

"Going into the season, I said, 'I don't care what happens, if we beat Western at Western, I'm good – my life is complete," Lowell said with a laugh, then added, "We're going to keep going. We played amazing. I'm so proud of the whole team. It was a team effort, we left it on the court, and it paid off."

SPU was down 22-20 in the fourth game, but put the next four points on the board, the last three of those with Biondi serving. A Cavell kill set up the first try for match point at 24-22. Western Washington (14-3, 7-2 GNAC) fought that off to get the serve back. But Cavell clinched it with the kill.

"It was amazing just because it was so exciting and everyone was so pumped," Cavell said. "That last ball was incredible. It took a second to hit all of us on the court, and then it was like, 'We won. We just beat Western.' That feeling is absolutely incredible."





The Falcons led for most of Game 1, but then found themselves down 22-20. They rallied to get three tries at game point, finally securing it on a Cavell kill.

"It's always important to win Game 1. It's important to win any game you can win here – if you're in it, you want to win it because they don't give you a whole lot of opportunities to win here," Johnson said.

Western Washington went on a six-point run in the second game, turning a 10-9 deficit into a 15-10 lead, and never trailed again.

SPU pulled off a similar surge in Game 3. Down 11-9, the Falcons scored eight of the next nine points for a 17-12 lead. It grew to 23-17before the Vikings came back to get within two, the last time at 24-22. Once again, it was a Cavell kill that gave Seattle Pacific the final point.

Western led by as many as five in the fourth game at 11-6, then saw the Falcons start their decisive comeback, finally climbing into a 17-17 tie.

"I was just really proud of the way our girls played all night," Johnson said. "We really put a lot of things into practice that we've been talking about all week. We saw them stick to the game plan, saw them just stay really mentally focused and just intentional about what we were doing on the court, and it paid off."

After hitting just .070 against Western in a three-game loss to the Vikings on Sept. 28 in Seattle, the Falcons hit at a .208 clip on Thursday night – 67 points better than their .141 for the season. The Vikings hit .207, which was 85 points below their season mark of .292.



NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.

Seattle Pacific 3, (No. 8) Western Washington 1

Game scores – 27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23.

Service aces – SPU 5 (Kendall Langdon 2), WWU 4 (Taylor Dillard 2).
Kills – SPU 57 (Madi Cavell 22, Lexi Biondi 13, Nikki Lowell 13), WWU 60 (Kayla Erickson 23).
Assists – SPU 56 (Langdon 52), WWU 58 (Dillard 55).
Digs – SPU 89 (Brianna Leenders 25, Breanne Wiekamp 20, Cavell 15, Langdon 24, Biondi 11), WWU 84 (Samantha Hutchinson 31).
Block assists / solo – SPU 12 / 0 solo (Lowell 4 / 0 solo), WWU 12 / 0 solo (Emily Boerger 3 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 57-21-173--.208 (Lowell 13-4-32--.281), WWU 60-23-179--.207 (Erickson 23-2-46--.457).
Attendance – 317.

Records – Seattle Pacific 10-8, 6-4 GNAC. Western Washington 14-3, 7-2 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, Saturday, 7:00 p.m.