Box Score

        Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – They were facing the 11^th-ranked team and the second-best hitting team in the country – and the Seattle Pacific Falcons responded with one of their best defensive efforts of the season .
 
Even so, the Western Washington Vikings found just enough offense – at just the right times – to get out of Brougham Pavilion with a volleyball victory on Saturday night.
 
Ellie Britt, Madi Cavell, and Kendall Langdon all had double-doubles, and SPU kept Western to a season-low hitting mark, but the Vikings came from eight points down to win Game 2, then got off to a 6-0 jump in Game 3 to sweep past SPU in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.
 
Scores were 25-20, 27-25, 25-18.
 
"We did a real good job defensively – they came in hitting .333 and only hit .143 tonight," said head coach Chris Johnson, whose Falcons (6-6, 2-2 GNAC) have a bye next Thursday, they return to action next Saturday in Brougham against Montana State Billings at 1:00 p.m. "We outdug them (68-63), and that's a big deal. We're really happy with that.
 
"But we gave them too many runs at critical times, and gave them way too many combined hitting errors and service errors … 37 free points is way too many for anybody."
 
Sophomore outside hitter Britt (Orange, Calif.) had 12 kills and 12 digs, giving her four double-doubles for both the season and her career. Junior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) had 10 kills and 11 digs, making it  five double-doubles for the season and eight for her career. Junior setter Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) delivered 13 assists and 11 digs. She now has three season and career double-doubles.
 
Junior libero Brianna Leenders (Gresham, Ore.) had 20 digs, joining Cavell, Britt, and Langdon in double figures in that department. Junior setter Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) led with 16 assists.
 
"We had some really good, shining moments, but we had too many lulls," Leenders said. "We're still working on keeping those balls in on offense, being more consistent, and really focusing on what Chris is telling us to do and paying attention to our game plan and executing."
 
Seattle Pacific fought all the way back from an18-12 deficit to get within 21-20 in the opening game before the Vikings (9-1, 2-0 GNAC) ran off the last four points.
 
The Falcons then had a 13-5 lead in Game 2. It was still 18-13 for SPU when Western went on a roll, getting seven of the next eight points for a 20-19 edge. They eventually went up 24-22, and the Falcons fought off three game points, the last one at 25-24 on a kill by Cavell for 25-all. But the Vikings got the final two on a tip and a kill, both by Jennica McPherson.
 
WWU then bolted to a 6-0 lead in the third game. The Falcons got as close as three, the last time at 19-16.
 
Before being limited to .143 hitting (36 kills, 17 errors, 133 attacks) by SPU's defense, the Vikings hadn't hit lower than .236 in any of their previous nine matches this fall. They started the week at .333 – trailing only defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul's .350 in D2 – and were at .323 after Thursday's sweep at Montana State Billings.
 
But Seattle Pacific hit just .070 (37-27-142).
 
"When you can hold this team to .143 hitting, you can hold your own with anyone," Johnson said. "If we can make the fixes we need to make on offense, we'll be in pretty good shape.
 
"I thought we played really well for the most part tonight," Johnson added. "Our mental focus was improved, and our competitiveness was improved."
 
Leenders agreed.
 
"We can look at that and be a lot more happy with our performance tonight than we had in our win (against Simon Fraser) on Thursday. But we still have a lot of work to do."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
(No. 11) Western Washington 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 25-20, 27-25, 25-18.
 
Service aces – WWU 32 (Jennica McPherson 3), SPU 3 (3 players with 1).
Kills – WWU 36 (McPherson 10), SPU 37 (Ellie Britt 12, Madi Cavell 10).
Assists – WWU 33 (Taylor Dillard 28), SPU 37 (Sara Biondi 16, Kendall Langdon 13).
Digs – WWU 63 (Samantha Hutchinson 30), SPU 68 (
Block assists / solo – WWU 21 / 3 solo (Emily Boerger 5 / 2 solo), SPU 13 / 0 solo (Nikki Lowell 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – WWU 36-17-133--.143 (Boerger 5-0-3--.333, Kayla Erickson 8-3-24--.208), SPU 37-27-142--.070 (Jackie Arnold 2-1-6--.167, Sara Biondi 3-2-7--.143, Cavell 12-7-46--.109).
Attendance – 185.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 6-6, 2-2 GNAC. Western Washington 9-1, 2-0 GNAC.
 
Next match – Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Oct. 5, 1:00 p.m.