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SEATTLE – It's the ultimate defensive dilemma for Seattle Pacific's volleyball opponents:

Who will they try to stop? And who will they leave open?

Paige Hoffman put down 11 while hitting a career-high .500, and Lindsey Wodrich slammed 12 kills on Saturday afternoon, leading the 15th-ranked Falcons to a sweep of Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.

Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-22, 25-20, 25-9 as SPU (15-0, 7-0 GNAC) kept its record perfect. It was the Falcons' sixth straight sweep and 10th in 15 matches this season. 

Junior outside hitter Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) got her 11 kills on 20 attacks with just one error. Her previous single-match career high for hitting was .476 last Oct. 21 (11-1-21) at Montana State Billings. She added five digs, three blocks and a service ace on Saturday.

Junior outside hitter Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) hit .276 for the match, and also came up with eight digs and a service ace. That ace in Game 3 started a run of four straight points as SPU extended a 12-6 lead to a commanding 16-6.





Sophomore middle blocker Angie Pricco (Brier, Wash./Blanchet HS) also enjoyed a career-high hitting day of .667 with five kills and just one error on six swings. She also had three blocks.

“At the beginning of the season, one person would do well. But now, all of our hitter are coming out really strong,” Hoffman said. “Shelby (Swanson) is doing a really good job of setting the ball, and it's putting a lot of pressure on the other blockers. There are a lot of holes open, and they don't know which gun is firing.”

Senior outside hitter Sarah Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) had seven kills, 10 digs and three service aces for Seattle Pacific. Sophomore setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) had 36 assists, and junior libero Anna Herold had 10 digs.

SPU hit .277 for the match, and climbed from just .206 in Game to all the way to .357 in Game 3. The Falcons limited Alaska Fairbanks to just .105 hitting, and the Nanooks (4-9, 2-5 GNAC) dropped from .216 in Game 1 to .172 in Game 2 down to -.103 in Game 3.

“It was a great performance, especially defensively,” Falcons coach Chris Johnson said. “We just saw our team get better throughout the match. They're learning within the match, and our opponents are hitting for a lower and lower percentage as the match goes on. That's really good to see.”





The Nanooks, who knocked off defending GNAC champion Alaska Anchorage in the Seawolves' gym earlier this season, hung close with Seattle Pacific throughout the first game, eventually cutting a 16-11 Falcons lead down to one at 18-17. But SPU kept the lead and clinched it when a Wodrich kill went out off a Fairbanks blocker.

The Falcons went on a 10-3 run in the second game, capped with five straight points, to turn an 11-10 deficit into a 20-14 advantage that never dipped below four after that. SPU took command of Game 3 with a 11-2 surge, extending a 5-4 lead to 16-6. Hoffman served up five consecutive points, and Wodrich had a string of four straight.

The Falcons hit the road for their next three matches starting next Thursday night in Burnaby, B.C., against GNAC newcomer Simon Fraser at 7 p.m. Then comes next Saturday's showdown at conference preseason favorite Western Washington, currently ranked No. 18 in NCAA Division II.

“We're just going to try to keep the same mindset we have, whether it's a home match or an away match,” Wodrich said, “and treat every house like it's our house. At the beginning of the season, we talked about it and we said we weren't going to take any team for granted and we were going to respect everybody, no matter if we played them here or away.” 



NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

(No. 15) Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Fairbanks 0

Game scores – 25-22, 25-20, 25-9.

Service aces – SPU: Sarah Risser 3. UAF: One player with1.
Kills – SPU: Lindsey Wodrich 12, Paige Hoffman 11. UAF: Tereza Bendlova 11.
Assists – SPU: Shelby Swanson 36. UAF: Mandy Grierson 23.
Blocks – SPU: Hoffman 3, Angie Pricco 3, Nikki Lowell 3. UAF: Marybeth Wikander 3.
Digs – SPU: Risser 10, Anna Herold 10. UAF: Bendlova 11.
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU: Pricco 5-1-6--.667, Hoffman 11-1-20--.500, Wodrich 12-4-29--.276, SPU 41-13-101--.277. UAF: Grierson 3-0-4--.750, Bendova 11-5-30--.200, UAF 29-19-95--.105.
Attendance – 195.

Records – Seattle Pacific 15-0, 7-0 GNAC. Alaska Fairbanks 4-9, 2-5 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser (Burnaby, B.C.), Thursday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m.