Box Score

        Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons were on the verge of taking charge in Thursday night's Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match against Northwest Nazarene.
 
Then, it was the Crusaders taking charge instead.
 
Madi Cavell slammed 20 kills, and Sara Biondi had 30 assists – her most in an SPU uniform – but NNU rallied from a 24-20 deficit to win Game 3, and went on to a 3-1 victory against the Falcons.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 18-25, 25-21, 31-29, 25-23.
 
The result snapped a five-match winning streak for SPU (12-9, 8-5 GNAC), which had not lost since dropping a four-gamer to the Crusaders (14-6, 10-4 GNAC) in Oct. 12 in Idaho.
 
"We made critical mistakes at key times," head coach Chris Johnson said, "whether it was the same hitting errors a few times in a row or hitting into their block a few times in a row, hitting out, or missing seven serves in Game 3 alone – that absolutely killed us. We got to 20-all in that game, and five of their 20 points were on our service errors at that point. It's almost impossible to survive that."

Junior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) passed 500 kills for her career. She now has 518.
 
Senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had 16 kills, putting her on the cusp of 1,000 for her career. She has 993 heading into Saturday's 7 p.m. match against Central Washington in Brougham. Lowell also had seven block assists.
 
Junior setter Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) beat her previous SPU high of 29 assists, set on Sept. 13 in a five-game victory against Cal State Los Angeles.
 
Freshman outside hitter Lexi Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) had 10 kills. Junior libero Brianna Leenders (Gresham, Ore.) led the way with 23 digs. Senior outside hitter Nicole Schwend had five kills on 13 swings and hit a team-leading .308. Schwend also had three block assists.
 
"Coli did a great job tonight – great swings, great blocks, and she helped a lot in trying to contain (NNU's Elayna Rice), and for the most part, did a good job against her," Johnson said.
 
After splitting the first two games, the Falcons were up 24-20 in Game 3. But Northwest Nazarene scored four straight, tying it on a service error, a kill, a tip, and a block.
 
SPU gained game-point opportunities at 25-24, 26-25, 27-26, and 28-27, only to see the Crusaders answer each time. The Falcons then staved off a game point against them at 29-28 to tie it at 29-all on a Cavell kill. But Northwest Nazarene then got the final two points and the game for a 2-1 lead.
 
Seattle Pacific scratched back from 15-11 behind in the fourth to forge three ties, the last one at 20-20. Down 24-21, the Falcons got back within 24-23 before Andrea Terpstra put down a kill that they were not able to keep alive.
 
Rice led NNU with 18 kills, and Terpstra finished with 15.
 
SPU out-hit Northwest Nazarene, .186 to .149, with four more kills (56-52) and two fewer errors. But the Falcons struggled with serving, with just two aces and 15 errors. The Crusaders had one ace and 10 errors.
 
Seattle Pacific is trying to gain a spot in the NCAA West Region rankings. They were not in this week's top 10, but NNU (No. 8) and Central Washington (No. 7) were in there. Central lost in five games at Montana State Billings on Thursday, and now heads to Seattle on Saturday.
 
"If we can beat Central on Saturday, maybe we still have a shot," Johnson said. "We just have to play our game and play well. We've got to hit the ball clean and hit it in."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Northwest Nazarene 3, Seattle Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 18-25, 25-21, 31-29, 25-23.
 
Service aces – NNU 1, SPU 2 (2 players with 1).
Kills – NNU 52 (Elayna Rice 18, Andrea Terpstra 15), SPU 56 (Madi Cavell 20, Nikki Lowell 16, Lexi Biondi 10).
Assists – NNU 50 (Michelle Terpstra 43), SPU 52 (Sara Biondi 30, Kendall Langdon 18).
Digs – NNU 69 (Taylor Roberts 23), SPU 67 (Brianna Leenders 23, Breanne Wiekamp 12).
Block assists / solo – NNU 20 / 5 solo (A. Terpstra 6 / 1 solo), SPU 20 / 2 solo (Lowell 7 / 0 solo, Cavell 5 / 0 solo, Jackie Anrold 3 / 2 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – NNU 52-28-161--.149 (A. Terpstra 15-4-29--.379), SPU 56-26-161--.186 (Nicole Schwend 5-1-13--.308).
Attendance – 115.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 12-9, 8-5 GNAC. Northwest Nazarene 14-6, 10-4 GNAC.
 
Next match – Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.