Box Score Box score, play-by-play SPU-Chaminade recap SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Twice on Friday, the Seattle Pacific Falcons started slow.
Twice, they saw the team on the other side of the net stage a late-match comeback.
And twice, they put another mark into the win column.
Madi Cavell had 14 kills, the last of which came on SPU's third try at match point as the Falcons polished off a three-game sweep of host Dominican in the Pacific West-Great Northwest Athletic Conference Crossover volleyball tournament.
Scores at the Conlan Center were 25-21, 25-17, 25-23.
Earlier Friday, Seattle Pacific bounced back from an opening-game loss to beat Chaminade, 20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-22.
At 6-1 and riding a four-match winning streak, the Falcons are off their best start through seven matches since 2010, when that team won its first 16.
SPU winds up the tournament and its preseason slate on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Frenso Pacific.
"I feel good about how we played today," Falcons coach
Chris Johnson said. "The match against Chaminade, after they hit over .400 in the first game (.419), we shut them down. I was proud of the way we played defense and took things away from them.
"We played tough tonight against Dominican," Johnson continued. That was a great comeback in the first game (from 19-14 behind). Our hitting wasn't great today in either match, but our defense was fantastic."
The 14 kills for senior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) against the Penguins put her past 100 for the season, now with 103.
Senior opposite
Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS) added eight kills, two block assists, and hit .238. Senior setter
Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) set up 29 assists, and senior libero
Brianna Leenders had 15 digs.
The Falcons came up big on the serve, with a season-high nine aces. Junior libero
Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) delivered three of those, including a pair back-to-back that put the final two points of Game 2 on the board.
SPU was down 19-14 in the opening game when it got sideout and handed the serve to junior outside
Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.). The Falcons put up five more points in a row for a 20-19 lead, saw Dominican (2-5) tie it at 20-20, then ran off another four to take command.
After yielding the first two points of Game 2, Seattle Pacific ran off five straight, the last four with senior setter Kendall Carver (Irvine, Calif.) serving, and never trailed again.
The Falcons, again with Carver serving, raced to a 6-0 lead in Game 3, and gradually enlarged it to 17-8.
But Dominican wasn't done, clawing back within 21-20. SPU pushed it out to 24-21 and had the serve. The Penguins fought off two match points before Cavell's last kill sealed it.
Thanks in part to .281 hitting in the third game, Seattle Pacific finished at .190 for the match (37 kills-18 errors-100 attacks). Dominican, which hit .312 in a four-game win against Montana State Billings on Thursday and .308 in a three-game sweep of Simon Fraser on Friday, was limited to just .090 (27-19-89) by the Falcons' defense.
That was the second match in a row that SPU kept its opponent below .100, as Chaminade finished at just .091 in the Falcons' four-game win earlier on Friday.
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALLPacific West-GNAC CrossoverFriday, September 12, 2014Conlan Center / San Rafael, Calif. Seattle Pacific 3, Dominican 0 Game scores – 25-21, 25-17, 25-23.
Service aces – SPU 9 (
Breanne Wiekamp 3), Dom 5 (Hannah Smith 2).
Kills – SPU 37 (
Madi Cavell 14), Dom 27 (Aimee Steinwand 11).
Assists – SPU 35 (
Sara Biondi 29), Dom 26 (Smith 21).
Digs – SPU 41 (
Brianna Leenders 15), Dom 37 (Shannon Riggio Kerley 13).
Block assists / solo – SPU 14 / 1 solo (
Maddi Hommes 4 / 0 solo), Dom 14 / 2 solo (3 players with 4).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 37-18-100--.190 (
Colleen Hannigan 3-0-5--.600, Hommes 4-1-7--.429), Dom
Attendance – 107.
Records – Seattle Pacific 6-1, 0-0 GNAC. Dominican 2-5, 0-0 Pacific West.
Next match – Seattle Pacific vs. Fresno Pacific, at Pac West-GNAC Crossover, Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
