SEATTLE -- Chris Johnson and Cortney Weedman both knew what was coming: With the Seattle Pacific Falcons having won the first two games of their volleyball showdown against Western Washington on Wednesday night, the Vikings were going to be charging at them to start the third game.

Except it never happened the way the SPU coach and his senior setter figured it would.

Instead, it was the Falcons snagging the momentum to start the third game, and they never loosened their grip on the way to a three-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference sweep in Brougham Pavilion. Scores were 25-20, 25-22, 25-13.

“We talked to them about that between games (2 and 3) and told them we have to come out ahead right at the start,” Johnson said. “We said we had to get ahead three points, then get up five, and get on them right from the get-go. We took them out of it.”

Weedman (Scottsdale, Ariz.) had a double-double of 22 assists and 11 digs, and junior outside hitter Sarah Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) hammered 17 kills and hits .286 for the match as Seattle Pacific (10-6, 4-0 GNAC) also firmed up its hold on the top of the GNAC standings. The Falcons opened a 1½-game lead on Western Washington, Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings, all of whom are 3-2 in conference play. WWU slipped to 10-6 overall.

It was the first time SPU had beaten the Vikings since 2006, a span of four matches. Western Washington won both of last year's contests against the Falcons in four games. Seattle Pacific has won four straight and eight of its last nine after a 2-5 start.

“It felt so good,” Weedman said. “Our serving and our passing were really on. We came into this match knowing we were going to win. We've been practicing really well and we've really been hustling for balls in practice.”

The Falcons return to action on Saturday against Montana State Billings at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.

SPU put together a 5-0 run early in Game 1 to take a 6-2 lead, and never trailed again, although Western got as close at 19-18 late in the game. The Falcons stretched it back out to 22-18, getting the last point of that mini-surge when freshman setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) dug a ball out of trouble, and watched it float over the net and kiss the sideline before the Vikings could react to it.

Western Washington rang up eight straight points in Game 2 to go from 5-2 down to 10-5 ahead. The Falcons kept closing, finally catching up a 17-17. They finally went in front to stay at 21-20 on a kill by Wodrich.

“We used to struggle with that,” Weedman said of falling behind and then not being able to climb back. “But we've been working on panic situations and working on staying ahead.”

Added Johnson, “I was really proud of them for that. We had to call a timeout when their girl (Emily Jepsen) was hitting those jump serves. We just kept chipping away at that lead and coming back.”

Seattle Pacific raced to a 10-2 lead in the third game, eventually stretching it to as many as 13 points at 20-7.

Though sweeps are hard for any team to come by against Western Washington, which has set the volleyball standard in the GNAC with four of the eight titles since conference play began in 2001, Johnson wasn't surprised at his team's performance on Wednesday.

“We were ready for them. I think we had them scouted well, and the girls wanted to win that one,” he said. “We had a couple good practices this week and had good energy coming in there, and a lot of confidence. We shut down their outside hitters and played really good defense. That's the best defense we've played all year."

The Falcons and Vikings came in as the top two hitting teams in the GNAC at .213 and .212, respectively. SPU easily beat its average performance, posting a solid .286 outing with 51 kills and just 13 errors on 133 total attacks. That included a .472 mark (19 kills and only two errors on 36 swings) in Game 3.

Western Washington hit just .142.

Sophomore libero Anna Herold (Bothell,Wash/Shorecrest HS) came up with 31 digs, giving her 317 for the year and 896 for her career. Freshman setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) had a career-high nine digs and also racked up 18 assists, just one shy of her best total.

The Vikings got 11 kills from leading hitter Marlayna Geary.