Box score, play-by-play
ANCHORAGE -- Now, it's a volleyball waiting game for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
Priscilla Collings, Sarah Risser and Shelby Swanson all had double-doubles on Saturday night, but SPU fell short of Alaska Anchorage in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season finale. Scores at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex were 27-25, 28-26, 19-25, 25-22.
The Falcons wound up in second place in the GNAC with an 11-5 record, and are 17-11 overall. They'll find out on Sunday night if that will get them into the NCAA Division II West Region tournament.
Seattle Pacific was No. 7 in the West Region rankings that were released last Thursday. The three conference champions from the West -- Anchorage of the GNAC, Cal State San Bernardino of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Hawaii Hilo of the Pacific West Conference -- all earn automatic bids to the eight-team regional tournament.
Then, the five highest-ranked teams among the non-champions, which will be finalized Sunday, get the other spots.
Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, San Francisco State and Chico State are the four schools expected to be in the running for the final two berths. The bracket and pairings will be released on Sunday at 6 p.m. on this link.
“We know nothing's guaranteed yet,” coach Chris Johnson said. “But we want to play some more.”
If the Falcons are selected, it will be their first NCAA appearance since 2006, when they dropped a five-gamer to Chico State in the first round.
Sophomore outside hitter Collings (Chula Vista, Calif.) had 21 kills and 19 digs on Saturday at Anchorage, both of which were just one short of her career highs. Junior outside hitter Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) had 13 kills and 10 digs. Freshman setter Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) earned 23 assists and came up with 10 digs.
It was the sixth double-double of the season for Collings (who hit .271), the 15th for Risser, and the third for Swanson.
“We decided to go with Priscilla (as a starter) tonight, and she played great. That's a huge match for her,” Johnson said.
Conference champion Anchorage (22-7, 14-2 GNAC), which ended the regular-season on a 12-match winning streak, came from behind in Game 1 and fought off two game points in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead into break. SPU took command early in Game 3 and stayed in front the rest of the way in that one.
The fourth game was tied at 18-18 when the Seawolves scored three straight points to go in front for good.
STEPPING UP THEIR PERFORMANCE
After struggling offensively against Alaska Anchorage when the Seawolves scored a three-game sweep on Oct. 15 in Brougham Pavilion, the Falcons performed significantly better in Saturday's rematch. Seattle Pacific hit .221, which was 71 points higher than the first match, and had 58 kills, 19 more than in October's contest.
“We played very well. We hit at a decent percentage against a really good team, and we held them to a lower percentage than they hit last time,” Johnson said. (The Seawolves finished at .245 on Saturday after hitting .388 against the Falcons last month.) “We had a couple tough calls in a couple games, But I'm definitely proud of the way we played.”
SPU had a 19-16 lead in Game 1 when the Seawolves went on a 4-0 run. The Falcons staved off game points at 24-23 and 25-24 before Anchorage got the last two.
The Seawolves were in charge for almost all of Game 2, building a 23-20 lead. That's when Seattle Pacific strung together four points in a row for a 24-23 edge. Alaska Anchorage pulled even, did it again when the Falcons had a 26-25 advantage, then got the last two points on a block and a kill.
SPU trailed just once in Game 3 at 2-1, pushed ahead 5-2 and stretched it all the way to 12-5. Anchorage eventually got within 16-13, then the Falcons ran off five straight points -- the last two on kills by Collings -- to make it 21-13 and never looked back. That broke what had been a 14-game winning streak for the Seawolves, which stretched over the course of five matches.
“We really didn't make any changes -- we just played better,” Johnson said. “We kept the same lineups all night and said we just have to stay aggressive and just keep getting better.”
Both teams had leads up through the midpoint of the fourth game. After the Seawolves took a 21-18 lead, Seattle Pacific eventually got as close as 22-21, but couldn't climb all the way back.
Senior setter Cortney Weedman (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who on Thursday night at Alaska Fairbanks broke the 1,000 assist mark for her two-year career at SPU, picked up 26 more on Saturday, giving her 1,033. Sophomore libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) had 17 digs, adding to her single-season record which she broke on Thursday. Herold had 579 last year, and now is up to 603.
NCAA Women's Volleyball
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wells Fargo Sports Complex/Anchorage, Alaska
Alaska Anchorage 3, Seattle Pacific 1
Game scores -- 27-25, 28-26, 19-25, 25-22.
Service aces -- SPU: Three players with one. UAA: Stacie Meisner 3.
Kills -- SPU: Priscilla Collings 21, Sarah Risser 13. UAA: Jacie Matthisen 21, Cortney Lundberg 15.
Blocks -- SPU: Amber Johnson 5, Robin De Jong 4, Paige Hoffman 4. UAA: Ashley Bates 6.
Assists -- SPU: Cortney Weedman 26, Shelby Swanson 23. UAA: Calli Scott 49.
Digs -- SPU: Collings 19, Anna Herold 17, Risser 10, Swanson 10. UAA: Meisner 20, McKenzie Moss 12.
Hitting -- SPU .221 (58 kills 25 errors, 149 attacks), UAA .245 (60 kills, 22 errors, 155 attacks).
Attendance -- 803.
Records
Seattle Pacific 17-11, 11-5 GNAC.
Alaska Anchorage 22-7, 14-2 GNAC.
Next match -- TBD.
